OLR Compendium > Public Reprimand of Grant C. Killoran

Public Reprimand of Grant C. Killoran

2010-OLR-1

Respondent Attorney Grant Killoran of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an attorney licensed in the State of Wisconsin since September 12, 1989.

Respondent, while a litigation partner at a large Milwaukee law firm, represented a client in several lawsuits and appeals that followed a guardianship and protective placement matter. The original petition for guardianship and protective placement (the “Petition”) was not filed prior to the transfer of the ward as required by law. That happened, at least in part, because messengers arrived at the clerk’s office after it was accepting filings on the day of transfer (July 1, 2003), and returned the next morning (July 2, 2003) to file the petition.

Neither Respondent nor the associate whom he supervised were responsible for or involved in the preparation or the filing of the Petition and Respondent was not materially involved in the guardianship proceeding, which was dismissed in 2004. At some point, Respondent learned that the Petition had not been filed prior to the transfer of the ward (July 1, 2003), but instead was filed the following day (July 2, 2003). On March 10, 2006, Respondent appeared in a court proceeding, informed the court that the Petition had been filed prior to the transfer of the ward on July 1, 2003, and “got hit by a file stamp the next day.” By making this statement to the trial court, Respondent knowingly made a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal, in violation of former SCR 20:3.3(a)(1), effective prior to July 1, 2007, which stated, in relevant part, “(a) A lawyer shall not knowingly: (1) make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal.”

In other litigation subsequent to the guardianship matter, the associate whom Respondent directly supervised made statements to courts that were false.

• On June 9, 2005, in a brief filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, the associate stated that, “Prior to [the patient’s] transfer . . . [the hospital] filed a petition for permanent guardianship and protective placement.”

• On December 7, 2005, Respondent and the associate appeared before the Court of Appeals. In oral argument before the Court of Appeals, the associate specifically informed the court that the Petition had been filed on July 1, 2003, when in fact the Petition had been filed on July 2, 2003 (and was file-stamped with the date July 2, 2003). The associate also prepared a blow- up exhibit that referenced the improper date and referred to it during oral argument.

• On August 28, 2006, in a brief to the Court of Appeals, the associate stated, “On July 1, 2003, [the client] filed a petition for permanent guardianship . . .” knowing that the Petition had not been filed on July 1, 2003.

• On March 29, 2007, in another matter pending before the Court of Appeals, the associate represented to the Court of Appeals in a brief that referenced a procedural history that the original Petition had been filed on July 1, 2003, when the Petition had been filed on July 2, 2003.

• On September 10, 2007, the associate whom Respondent supervised filed an additional brief in another matter stating that the file-stamp on the Petition was incorrect, knowing that the statement was false.

By allowing the associate to make statements to courts that were in violation of former and current SCR 20:3.3(a), knowing of the conduct at the time, Respondent violated former and current SCR 20:5.1(c), which states, in relevant, part, “A lawyer shall be responsible for another lawyer’s violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct if: . . . (2) the lawyer is a partner . . . in the law firm in which the other lawyer practices, or has direct supervisory authority over the other lawyer, and knows of the conduct at a time when its consequences can be avoided or mitigated but fails to take reasonable remedial action.”

Respondent has no prior discipline.

In accordance with SCR 22.09, Attorney Grant Killoran of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is hereby publicly reprimanded.