Attorney Michael L. Chemin (Chemin) was admitted to the practice of law in Wisconsin on September 16, 1980, State Bar No. 1002081.

In June 2019, Chemin began representing a client in a criminal matter. At a pretrial hearing, twelve days prior to trial, Chemin moved to withdraw at the client's insistence because Chemin refused to file four pretrial motions on the client's behalf. After inquiring into the basis for the request to withdraw, the circuit court denied the motion, allowing Chemin to file the client's requested motions. Chemin filed the four motions shortly thereafter, which were all denied. Following a five-day trial in April 2021, a jury found the client guilty of a number of felonies and a misdemeanor resulting from a shooting incident.

From the outset of the representation in 2019, Chemin told the client that the four motions lacked merit. However, as early as December 2020, Chemin falsely assured the client that either he had the filed the motions or would file motions. The client believed all four motions were filed and ready to be litigated as of mid-February to early March 2021. Chemin acknowledged, both in a Machner hearing and to the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), that he misrepresented to his client that he had filed the four pretrial motions. Chemin described his reason for doing so as "an ill- conceived means to temporarily placate" the client until the client accepted Chernin's opinion as to the motions' merits.

In offering a public reprimand, OLR considered several mitigating factors. First, the four pretrial motions the client wished to pursue clearly lacked merit, and Chernin advised the client of that on multiple occasions. Second, Chemin's misrepresentations to the client did not impact the client's case because the court ultimately heard and denied the motions. Third, Chemin was sufficiently cooperative and truthful about his actions during both the Machner hearing and during OLR 's grievance evaluation. Fourth, court records indicate that Chemin adequately represented the client. Finally, Chernin's prior disciplinary history is relatively remote in time and did not involve similar conduct.

By falsely assuring his client that he had filed four pretrial motions when he knew that he had not, in fact, filed those motions, Chemin violated SCR 20:8.4(c), which states, "It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation."

Attorney Chemin received a public reprimand in 2009 for violations of SCR 20:1.2(a), 20:1.3, and 20:1.4(a)(4). Chemin also received private reprimands in 1999, 1998, 1997, and 1993.

In accordance with SCR 22.09(3), Attorney Michael L. Chernin is hereby publicly reprimanded.