Michelle MacDonald’s law license ‘indefinitely’ suspended

June 30, 2021 Comments Off read Legal Developments, Michelle MacDonald

Michelle MacDonald’s law license was “indefinitely” suspended today by the Minnesota Supreme Court for violating rules governing licensed attorneys.

Still, she will be required to retake the portion of the bar exam on professional responsibility, pay costs of $900, and an investigation will be conducted before MacDonald’s law license is reinstated.

Today’s order suspending MacDonald’s license is a direct result of a complaint filed against MacDonald in June 2018 by Michael Brodkorb and Allison Mann in response to MacDonald filing a lawsuit against Brodkorb and Missing in Minnesota. The lawsuit filed by MacDonald was dismissed in March 2019 by a judge in Ramsey County.

The Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility investigated MacDonald for 21 months and requested her license be suspended.

MacDonald, who was labeled a “person of interest” in the disappearance of missing children announced in January that she will be a candidate again for the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2022. Continue reading →

Michelle MacDonald ’caused harm to both the public and legal profession’

October 21, 2020 Comments Off read 2020 Elections, Legal Developments, Michelle MacDonald, Missing in Minnesota, The Girls Are Gone

A judicial referee appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court has determined that Michelle MacDonald, who is a candidate for the Minnesota Supreme Court, “caused harm to both the public and legal profession” that warrant MacDonald being placed on supervised probation.

Senior Judge E. Anne McKinsey was appointed in June by Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea as the referee to hear the petition for disciplinary action against MacDonald. McKinsey’s recommendation that MacDonald is placed on supervised probation was made in a court filing yesterday after a disciplinary hearing which was held last month.

In March, the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court to discipline MacDonald after determining that she violated the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct governing licensed attorneys and the conditions of her probation by which she could practice law.

The petition was filed after the completion of a 21-month investigation into MacDonald, which began after Michael Brodkorb and Allison Mann filed a formal complaint with the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility in June 2018 in response to MacDonald filing a lawsuit against Brodkorb and Missing in Minnesota. The lawsuit filed by MacDonald was dismissed in March 2019 by a judge in Ramsey County.

The Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility requested the suspension of MacDonald’s law license for a minimum of 90 days. They have 14 days to contest the disciplinary recommendations from Judge McKinsey. Continue reading →

Lawyers board: Suspend MacDonald’s law license

September 30, 2020 Comments Off read 2020 Elections, Legal Developments, Michelle MacDonald

The Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility is requesting that Michelle MacDonald, who is a candidate for the Minnesota Supreme Court, “be suspended from the practice of law for a minimum of 90 days as a sanction for her misconduct.“

The request to suspend MacDonald’s law license was made in a court filing by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility in response to a disciplinary hearing which was held earlier this month.

Senior Judge E. Anne McKinsey was appointed by Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea as the referee to hear the petition for disciplinary action against MacDonald. McKinsey is scheduled to release her findings and recommendations for discipline against MacDonald by October 20, 2020.

According to the brief filed last week, MacDonald “violated Rule 3.1, MRPC” when she filed her “factually frivolous defamation lawsuit” against Brodkorb and Missing in Minnesota. The brief is damning and details numerous violations by MacDonald of the rules governing licensed attorneys in Minnesota.

The filing from the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility validates the work of Brodkorh and Missing in Minnesota in reporting about Michelle MacDonald, as one of the reasons they want her suspended is because she filed “a factually frivolous lawsuit against a local journalist [Brodkorb], which was dismissed after over a year of costly litigation.”

Continue reading →