Former Anoka County District Judge Alan Pendleton suspended from practicing law for 90 days

A former Anoka County district judge who was removed from the bench because he was living outside his district has now been suspended from practicing law.

In a petition for disciplinary action filed against Alan Pendleton in December, the director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to suspend Pendleton's law license for 90 days. The court agreed in an order filed last week.

Pendleton was removed from office in October after he lied to voters about his residence on his affidavit of candidacy. He was living in his wife's house in Minnetonka, which is in Hennepin County, for eight months starting in December 2013.

In its 39-page decision for removal, the court agreed to the harshest penalty. The majority's decision said, "In order for the public to have confidence in the integrity of the judicial system, the public must believe that there is an effective system in place to ensure judges abide by our Constitution and follow their ethical obligations."

In the order filed in December, the office said Pendleton "committed professional misconduct warranting public discipline."

Patrick Burns, first assistant director of the office, said this is "a somewhat unusual attorney discipline case" because Pendleton was a judge.

"In this case, it is our position, given the misconduct, that he did violate the rules of professional conduct," Burns said.

"I wanted to put the whole matter behind me as I begin a new phase in my professional life," Pendleton said. "Really looking forward to the next chapter of my life."

Regarding the Supreme Court decision for removal, Pendleton said that he "never intended to abandon my residence."

Pendleton had testified that he was "filling in a short-term gap" between addresses while he dealt with pressing family issues.

"Everything I did was not as a judge, but rather as a father who was concerned only with helping his son through a difficult family medical emergency," he said Wednesday.

"When I first received notice that I was being removed, it was devastating to me," Pendleton said. "I'd been an attorney or a judge for 36 years. I very much identified as a judge. And once that was taken away from me it was a horrible feeling."

Pendleton's case is not without precedent. In 2011, Hennepin County District Judge Patricia Kerr Karasov was censured and suspended without pay for six months for a similar offense. She is no longer an active judge.