At its meeting of September 16, 1991, the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility determined that Atty. Andrew J. Pyatskowit should be publicly reprimanded for a number of instances of neglect of client matters and trust account violations. Atty. Pyatskowit acknowledged that he had:

Real Property Law1. Failed to file necessary documents and take other steps to pursue a change in custody and child support for a client for a period of four months and then, after the client discharged him for his failure to act, failed to refund the client's unearned fees until after the client had started a small claims action for return of the fees. The Board determined such conduct violated SCR 20:1.3 and 20:1.16(d).

2. Failed to promptly complete the probate of two estates, one of which was open for more than eight years and the other for more than five years, in further violation of SCR 20:1.3.

3. Failed over a period of 2 ½ years to complete the transfer of a parcel of land that had been donated to the Menominee Indian tribe, in further violation of SCR 20:1.3.

4. Failed to keep complete records of trust account funds and filed annual certificates that falsely certified that he had maintained required trust account records, in violation of SCR 20:1.15(e) and 20:1.15(g).

5. Failed to notify a client for a period of over three years about receipt of $265 that had been deposited and held in his attorney's trust account, in violation of SCR 20:1.15(b).

6. Failed for more than two years to return to two other clients small sums of money that had been deposited into his trust account and never expended for their original purpose, in further violation of SCR 20:1.15(b).

7. Failed to deposit $100 of client funds into his trust account, in violation of SCR 20:1.15(a).

8. Deposited funds in his trust account that were strictly attributable to legal fees and left that money on deposit for several years, thereby commingling personal and client funds in violation of SCR 20:1.15(a).

9. Withdrew funds from his trust account that he attributed to "fees" without attributing the withdrawal to any specific client or crediting any client for the payment, and made withdrawals from his trust account that caused the trust account balance to fall under the total amount that he was to be holding in trust for clients, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(c). (The shortfall, however, appeared to be less than $20.)

In considering the appropriate sanction for these violations the Board took into consideration the facts that Atty. Pyatskowit had never been previously disciplined; that he had made attempts to establish appropriate trust account records but, either through lack of knowledge about the maintenance of trust records or simple neglect, failed to adequately keep those records up-to-date; that the trust account improprieties appeared to arise as a result of poor record-keeping and neglect, rather than any deliberate dishonesty or attempt to convert client monies; and that the amounts of money involved were very small. The Board concluded, therefore, that a public reprimand was an appropriate sanction and was sufficient to alert both the public and Mr. Pyatskowit about the nature of the violations and the need to take steps to rectify the problems.