A Wisconsin lawyer convicted of spitting in the face of a Black teenager during a 2020 protest in Shorewood has had her law licence suspended for one year.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued the order against Stephanie Rapkin on Thursday, 17 September 2026, ruling that the suspension would take effect immediately. She was also ordered to pay $3,164.77 towards the costs of the disciplinary proceedings.
Rapkin was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct in 2023 after a jury found her guilty following a trial lasting three days. The incident took place during protests in Shorewood, near Milwaukee, in June 2020.
Wisconsin lawyer found in default
The disciplinary case was brought by the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation, which alleged six counts of professional misconduct. Rapkin did not file an answer or appear at the proceedings, leading the court to enter a default judgment against her.
The Supreme Court rejected her argument that it lacked jurisdiction because she had retired and stopped paying her bar dues. The court said those circumstances did not prevent it from disciplining her under Wisconsin law.
Several of the allegations concerned Rapkin’s work administering an estate and trust. The court found that she had charged thousands of dollars without a valid written fee agreement, combined estate and trust charges without sufficient explanation, billed standard legal rates for work that was not legal in nature and failed to respond to the trustee.
The estate remained unresolved for about two years before a probate court removed Rapkin from the case and ordered her to repay almost $19,000 in improper fees. The disciplinary ruling also noted that she had filed a claim for a further $6,500 in services, which the probate court rejected.
The Supreme Court said the conduct surrounding the disorderly conduct conviction violated Rapkin’s professional obligations and reflected adversely on her fitness to practise law. In its decision, the court described the spitting incident as “an embarrassment to the bar”.
Rapkin had previously been sentenced to 60 days in a House of Correction for the protest incident. During her 2023 trial, she acknowledged spitting but said she had directed it at the ground rather than at the teenager.
Her defence lawyer, Anthony Cotton, argued that she had reacted after the teenager approached her and shouted in her face. Prosecutors said Rapkin had changed her account in an attempt to avoid conviction.
The Supreme Court said Rapkin had no previous disciplinary record, but concluded that the seriousness and number of the offences justified a one-year suspension. It said reinstatement would depend on her complying with the conditions of the order.
