On January 22, 1997, a woman met with Attorney John Miller Carroll, Milwaukee, to discuss retaining him regarding the woman's potential probation revocation. On January 23, 1997, the woman was taken into custody, and, on the 24th, her husband paid Atty. Carroll a $1500 retainer. For the next six weeks, the woman sat in jail with little communication from Atty. Carroll and little to no substantive work performed on her case. During the six weeks she was incarcerated, Atty. Carroll never met with the woman. There was little telephone contact, and, based upon the correspondence from the woman's husband, the woman did not know what was happening with her case or what her options were. She then retained new counsel who secured her release within two weeks. Atty. Carroll refused to return the woman's retainer and, after she filed a grievance with BAPR, asserted that she owed him money. While Atty. Carroll did do some work on the case, primarily reviewing and responding to the husband's requests for information, the woman received no benefit from the representation. Atty. Carroll did little of a substantive nature on the woman's case.

The Board found that Atty. Carroll failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing the woman, in violation of SCR 20:1.3. The Board also found that Atty. Carroll failed to respond to her reasonable requests for information and explain the matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the woman to make informed decisions regarding the representation, contrary to SCR 20:1.4(a) and (b). Finally, the Board found that Atty. Carroll failed to return an advanced payment of fee that had not been earned, in violation of SCR 20:1.16(d).

The Board concluded that, in addition to a public reprimand, Atty. Carroll should either return the entire $1500 retainer to the client or agree to submit his fee to fee arbitration. In imposing the public reprimand, the Board took into consideration the fact that Atty. Carroll had been privately reprimanded in 1992 and again in 1997. In accordance with SCR 21.09(2), the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility does hereby publicly reprimand Attorney John Miller Carroll.