LOS ANGELES — The State Bar Court of California recently terminated a suspension order against Stephan John Coghlan, a San Francisco attorney, after he passed the the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE), which was part of an April 2015 suspension.
Coghlan was ordered active on December 14 and is currently eligible to practice law in California.
According to the November 28 decision, Coghlan was placed on probation as a result of a criminal conviction he incurred for an incident in November 2012. Law enforcement was dispatched to the attorney’s home following a 911 phone call from Coghlan’s wife. The attorney left the residence and drove to an unknown destination.
He was stopped by the dispatched officer about a block from his home and was questioned about the 911 call. Coghlan was permitted to leave after the officer completed his questioning.
The wife informed the officers that Coghlan had been drinking, and the officer stopped him again to perform a field sobriety test, though the attorney refused to take an alcohol screening. Coghlan was then charged with driving under the influence, a misdemeanor.
During his two-year probation, Coghlan was given notice of several conditions he needed to meet, including passage of the MPRE, which he did not complete and was subsequently suspended until he could provide the state bar with proof of his passing.
Coglan’s suspension was lifted on Dec. 14, 2016, when he submitted his MPRE score to the state bar.
The 61-year-old attorney is a graduate of the Cleveland State Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Ohio. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1991 and had one private reproval in July 2005.