The Wisconsin Supreme Court disciplined attorney Stephanie Rapkin with a one-year suspension. The court found she charged a client thousands of dollars without a valid written fee agreement, failed to diligently carry out her duties, and spat in the face of an African-American teenager taking part in a June 2020 protest in Shorewood, Wisconsin. Rapkin was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct for the incident.
The court said her criminal conduct "seriously adversely reflects on her fitness to practice law" and called the incident an embarrassment to the bar. Rapkin did not appear to contest the charges, saying she had retired. The court also ordered her to pay $3,000 in costs.
Separately, Rapkin sued the villages of Shorewood and Whitefish Bay after her 2020 arrest, alleging police violated her Fourth Amendment rights by kicking in her door without a warrant. An insurance company representing the villages settled the case in 2024 for $760,000. Her complaint alleged officers spent roughly 40 minutes outside her home before breaking in under the false pretense of a welfare check, based on a neighbor's comment that she may have taken a sleeping pill.