Deputy sheriffs would be allowed to practice law. Sponsored by Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul) and Sen. Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul), HF348*/SF297 would remove a prohibition of a deputy sheriff practicing law, provided the deputy has the appointing sheriff’s approval.
Approved 127-4 by the House May 8, it awaits Senate action.
“This was brought to me by several deputy sheriffs who did go to law school and wanted to practice outside their jurisdiction for cases that didn’t affect them in their deputy sheriff job,” Lesch said.
An assistant St. Paul city attorney, Lesch said he has sometimes performed criminal defense attorney cases in another jurisdiction.