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Wisconsin Attorneys' Professional Discipline Compendium
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Public Reprimand of Charles E. Brady
1997-4
Violation of SCR 20.27(1) (pre-1988), SCR 20:1.8(a)(1)
A man had a long-standing attorney/client relationship with a law firm with which Atty. Charles E. Brady was associated. From 1985 to 1987, Brady represented the man and his wife in an estate for which the man was the personal representative, and the man and his wife were the sole beneficiaries. The estate was completed in approximately July 1987. As recently as 1993, Brady and his firm represented the man in other matters.
In March 1987, June 1987, and September 1987, Brady requested and received three loans from the man in the total amount of $25,000. Brady signed interest-bearing promissory notes for the loans. Brady made no interest payments to the man since October 1989, and he made no principal pay-ments. Beginning in 1988, Brady executed a number of renewal notes for the unpaid loans, including accrued interest not paid. The most recent renewal note was issued on October 1, 1993 and was in the amount of $35,857.00. In the spring of 1994, Brady informed the man that he was insolvent and that he hoped to repay the man in the future.
The Board determined that Brady violated SCR 20.27(l)(1984) and SCR 20:1.8(a)(1) because he failed to make full disclosure of his financial situation to the man, both at the times of each of the 1987 loans and when Brady signed the 1993 renewal note. Because there was lack of a full disclosure of Brady's financial situation, the loan transactions were not fair and reasonable to the man, nor could the man make informed decisions about the loans or renewal notes.
In accordance with SCR 21.09(2), the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility does hereby public reprimand Atty. Charles E. Brady of River Falls.
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