Duluth attorney disbarred by Minnesota Supreme Court

Duluth News-Tribune (MN)

Mar. 26—The Minnesota Supreme Court has disbarred a Duluth attorney for repeated ethical violations.

Nicholas Schutz was stripped of his law license Wednesday after acknowledging that he practiced law and engaged in dishonest conduct while suspended for previous misconduct.

The disbarment stems from Schutz's handling of an immigration case, with the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility first filing a petition for disciplinary action in late December.

Documents state that Schutz, while suspended, accepted a $1,500 fee to help a local woman and her Canadian fiance gather documents and submit an application for his permanent residency. But Schutz never filed the application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, causing the man to overstay his allotted time in the country, according to the petition.

Schutz, who was admitted to the state bar in 2005, handled a variety of cases, including family law, estate planning and immigration, at a firm called Twin Ports Law in downtown Duluth. But he had not been authorized to practice since May 2014 after a series of transgressions.

Schutz, 47, did not contest the board's petition for disbarment.

"Well, with the disciplinary history I've accumulated, it would've been a really tough sell to convince the Supreme Court that I deserved anything less," he told the News Tribune on Thursday. "I've made some regrettable legal decisions with my legal career, and this is the outcome."

Schutz was first suspended nearly seven years ago when the Supreme Court found that he had failed to keep required trust account books and was uncooperative with an investigation by the lawyers' board. The court said at the time that he could not apply for reinstatement for at least 90 days.

When Schutz did seek permission to return to practice in November 2016, his petition led to a second disciplinary investigation. A standard review of his client accounts, bank statements and other records led to the discovery that his trust account was "continually short sufficient funds to cover aggregate client balances," according to court documents.

Schutz later met with Susan Humiston, director of the professional board, and acknowledged that he was unable to attribute particular transactions to individual clients due to his failure to maintain proper records, according to the petition.

While he asserted that all funds were eventually earned, the board noted that the misconduct occurred while he was already under investigation for trust account issues and that his "non-cooperation" prevented the issues from being discovered sooner.

While suspended, he also had been issued four admonitions for other infractions, including failing to advise clients of his suspension, working on a client's matter after suspension and failing to provide a clients with case updates and billing statements.

The presumptive sanction at that point was disbarment, but Humiston joined Schutz in his request for another opportunity, citing "the unique facts of the case." Schutz, according to documents, had "expressed significant remorse" and provided medical records showing a diagnosis of anxiety and depression amid "extreme stress" in his personal life.

The Supreme Court granted a three-year extension of his suspension in March 2019, also imposing a number of additional conditions that would need to be followed before he could apply for reinstatement.

The latest incident came to light after a complaint was filed by the couple dealing with the immigration issue. According to the petition, the woman emailed Schutz, through his law office address, to request assistance with her fiance's immigration application. He first responded in September 2018 and met with the couple at a coffee shop in April 2019 to provide forms, discuss necessary documentation and the application process.

Schutz, according to the petition, never disclosed that he was suspended. He did not execute a written fee agreement, but the couple provided him with $1,500 for his services, along with money orders payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for filing fees.

Schutz never filed the application, telling the lawyers' board that it was always his intention for the couple to do so themselves. But the petition notes that he kept their money orders in a lock box at his home and communicated to the couple as late as December 2019 that he was checking with immigration officials on the status of the case. The client, by that point, had surpassed his authorized time in the country.

Once the complaint was filed, Schutz returned the clients' $1,500 fee and their money orders.

Schutz said he's not sure how the clients found him, but he decided to try to help them because of his experience with immigration cases.

"It's a forms-driven process and, in that sense, there are ways to assist people that do not constitute the practice of law," he said. "In other words, ways to assist people without giving legal advice. But that was a line I never should've attempted to toe."

Schutz described his situation as "certainly embarrassing and very humbling," though he said the disbarment provides some "finality." He said he has found other areas of work and is exploring a potential return to the legal realm as a mediator.

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