Press Release

This week, Republican Attorney General candidate Dennis Smith had his law license suspended for a laundry list of improper behaviors, including:

• “making multiple knowingly false statements regarding the progress and status of his client’s file”
• “failing to timely refund the unearned portion of the advance fee”
• “failing to properly safekeep a large check received from a third party”

The dispute stemmed from an estate case Smith took where his client accused Smith of a “lack of diligence” and filed a formal ethics complaint against Smith due to his incompetence. As a result of the successful complaint, Smith:

• Had his law license suspended for 30 days
• Had to pay a $900 fine
• Was placed on legal probation for 2 years
• Must be supervised by another attorney for 2 years

While Smith signed the disciplinary agreement in late 2021, it required approval from the Minnesota Supreme Court, which they gave on Tuesday, January 25th.

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“The Attorney General of Minnesota should not need a babysitter to do his job.”

“If Dennis Smith can’t even be trusted to practice law on his own, why should any Minnesotan trust him as our Attorney General? Furthermore, will Smith’s name appear on the ballot alongside the court-appointed supervisor who must review Smith’s legal work? The Attorney General is supposed to be the people’s lawyer, and Minnesotans deserve better than a lawyer like Smith who lies to clients and mishandles their money.”