Ousted Lindquist Partner Accused of Stealing $1M from Firm & Clients
Ousted last month from Linquist & Vennum, a prominent real estate partner has been accused of stealing at least $1 million from the 200-attorney Minneapolis-based law firm and its clients between 2003 and 2010.
The accusations against 56-year-old Michael Margulies are made in a disciplinary petition filed on Thursday with the state supreme court by the state Board of Lawyers Professional Responsibility that was made public today, reports the Pioneer Press (reg. req.).
Margulies, who recently resigned his seat on the St. Paul Planning Commission, was forced to withdraw, the Pioneer Press reported in an earlier article, after Lindquist & Vennum found he had “misappropriated significant sums from a limited number of clients and from the firm,” said managing partner Daryle Uphoff in a written statement.
Margulies earned his law degree at the University of Minnesota and was admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1978. He formerly chaired the Lindquist firm’s real estate practice group, the Pioneer Press says.
The newspaper couldn’t immediately reach attorney Eric Cooperstein, who represents Margulies, but he said last week that his client is under medical treatment and was “really concerned that his personal failures not reflect on the law firm.”
A similar scenario recently played out concerning a partner at the Chicago offices of another well-known law firm, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
