Kenosha DA’s Law License Reinstated
Xavier Solis is being investigated by Wisconsin’s Office of Lawyer Regulation.
Xavier Solis, an attorney for the FightBack Foundation, speaks during the hearing on Kyle Rittenhouse’s bond, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis. Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool
Kenosha County’s district attorney has had his law license reinstated a day after it was suspended by Wisconsin’s Office of Lawyer Regulation.
On Monday, the regulatory body sent a memo announcing that Xavier Solis was being barred from practicing law in the state for “willfully failing to cooperate with one or more OLR investigations into alleged misconduct.”
The next day, the office sent another notice. That two-sentence memo said that Solis’ law license had been reinstated effective Tuesday.
Neither memo gives details about Solis’ alleged misconduct, and a state court spokesperson has declined to give further comment, citing the confidentiality of the process.
The memos cite a section of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court rules that specify a license suspension can result from refusing to cooperate with an OLR investigation in a number of ways. That could include failing to turn over documents and other evidence, failing to meet deadlines imposed by the OLR or failing to “fully and fairly to disclose all facts and circumstances.”
The rules also specify that a lawyer’s license will be automatically reinstated if the person starts complying with the investigation at any time within 18 months of the suspension.
The notice of reinstatement of Solis’ license does not resolve any OLR investigations against him. Such investigations can result in penalties, including the revocation of someone’s law license.
On Monday, Kenosha County’s Deputy DA Rosa Delgado said she was serving as the county’s acting district attorney until Solis’ “license to practice law is reinstated or until further direction is received from the Governor’s Office.”
Wisconsin law says that a district attorney must be licensed to practice law in the state. When district attorney positions fall vacant — typically because of a resignation or death — the state’s governor is tasked with appointing a replacement. In rare cases, the governor can also remove a district attorney “for cause.”
Solis did not respond to questions from WPR about the circumstances that led to his license suspension. In emails to WPR on Tuesday, Solis said he would resume work as the county’s district attorney and added that he was “committed to serving the people of Kenosha County.”
“I want to sincerely thank the members of our community, as well as the many attorneys and colleagues who reached out to me with words of support and encouragement,” Solis wrote in a statement. “Your calls, messages, prayers, and expressions of confidence have meant a great deal to me and my family.”
Solis was elected to a four-year term that began in January 2025. Solis ran as a Republican in a county that also elected President Donald Trump during the November 2024 election.
Solis had worked in private practice, but he did not have prosecutorial experience at the time of his election. Since Solis took office, the DA’s office has struggled with missed deadlines and with staff vacancies.
In February, a Kenosha County judge sanctioned Solis for failing to disclose his use of artificial intelligence in an instance when Solis submitted court documents that included false case citations.
Kenosha County DA’s law license is reinstated was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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