Minnesota joins other states, disbars longtime attorney

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The Minnesota Supreme Court has disbarred attorney Jay Arthur Rosenberg, who had been disbarred in other jurisdictions. It determined that reciprocal discipline of disbarment was appropriate for Rosenberg.

For nearly six decades, Rosenberg has been practicing law in a number of jurisdictions under entities such as Rosenberg LPA and Rosenberg PLLC. Rosenberg was admitted to practice law in Minnesota in January 2016, though his Minnesota law license has been inactive since 2022.

Rosenberg’s license to practice in Wisconsin is inactive.

According to facts laid out in the court’s per curiam opinion, one of the states where Rosenberg practiced law was Virginia. The problem with that was that he was not licensed in Virginia. Rosenberg engaged in practice of law for eight years in Virginia without a law license.

Rosenberg’s Virginia practice focused on preparing a high volume of deeds in residential real estate transactions in multiple states at a discounted cost basis. In just Virginia, from 2014 to 2021, Rosenberg claimed that his firm prepared some 2,000 deeds per year. In all, Rosenberg oversaw 14,000 deeds in Virginia in the seven years he was engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.

Beyond not being licensed, Rosenberg had a law firm in India doing the first draft of the deeds. The deeds Rosenberg prepared listed the name of a Virginia-licensed attorney, B. Wesley Barger Jr., who reviewed the first draft of the deeds. But Barger was not affiliated with Rosenberg’s firm (Rosenberg’s firm had no Virginia-licensed employee) and was put on the prepared deeds for a $300 monthly retainer fee. Additionally, Barger rarely reviewed the deeds. Rosenberg claimed that he was unaware that he was violating Virginia’s rules and thought that all that was needed to comply was the involvement of a Virginia-based or licensed lawyer.

The large Virginia operation moved forward until there was a 2019 judicial sale of real estate in Fairfax County, Virginia. An attorney was appointed as special commissioner to oversee the sale. Rosenberg prepared the deed after the property was sold in 2020. Upon reviewing the deed, the attorney discovered that there were several errors. The most significant error, however, was that the deed was drafted as a general warranty deed instead of a special warranty deed.

Reviewing a random sample of seven deeds, the Virginia Bar found that all of the deeds Rosenberg prepared had spelling or grammatical errors. Some of the deeds had substantive errors that had not been reviewed by a Virginia-licensed attorney before being transferred to clients.

The Supreme Court of Virginia determined that Rosenberg was engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. Rosenberg was never licensed or authorized to practice law in Virginia. The Virginia Bar determined that the production of real estate deeds was an unauthorized practice of law, violating VRPC 5.5(c) and (d). The court excluded Rosenberg from “seeking admission to, or exercising any privilege to, practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

The Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed notice of reciprocal discipline under Rule 12(d) in April 2024. Rosenberg did not respond to the order, instead informing the OLPR director that he was not interested in practicing law and would not participate in any of the Minnesota proceedings, including appearing at oral argument in front of the Supreme Court.

“Respondent’s unauthorized practice of law cannot be viewed as anything but serious in its scale and severity,” Binh Tuong, deputy director of the OLPR, asserted at the disciplinary hearing before the court. “This conduct is harmful to the client and it was harmful to the profession.”

The Minnesota Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether reciprocal discipline of disbarment was appropriate in Rosenberg’s case. It concluded that it was, citing the number of deeds Rosenberg oversaw as well as the number of people affected.

“The sheer volume of deeds for which Rosenberg was responsible as part of an organized scheme favors more severe sanctions than incompetence or improper diligence would on their own,” the court wrote. “Rosenberg’s misconduct occurred over many years and affected thousands of clients.”

“Rosenberg, who obtained law licenses in 15 other jurisdictions, willfully chose not to obtain a Virginia law license, and has offered no legal authority or explanation as to why he did not need a Virginia law license to practice as he did,” the court added.

The court concluded that the Virginia disbarment was not substantially different from discipline warranted in Minnesota.

Rosenberg was admitted to practice law in several jurisdictions beyond Minnesota and Wisconsin including District of Columbia, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, South Dakota, and Washington. He has been disbarred in five other jurisdictions due to discipline stemming from his disbarment in Virginia.