OLR Compendium > Public Reprimand of Alf RHR Langan

Public Reprimand of Alf RHR Langan

2020-OLR 2

Alf RHR Langan is a Wisconsin-licensed attorney, who maintains an office in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Matter No. 1

On or about May 17, 2017, a man hired Langan to represent him in connection with an outstanding criminal warrant issued after the man absconded from the jurisdiction of Wisconsin while on extended supervision following multiple criminal convictions. The man signed a written fee agreement and his girlfriend paid Langan an advanced fee of $2,000. The written fee agreement in the matter contained provisions required under SCR 20:1.5(g) allowing for placement of an advanced fee in an account other than a trust account. Subsequently, Langan performed some work on his client’s behalf.

Following difficulty in receiving return contact from Langan, the client terminated Langan’s representation on May 26, 2017 and requested that Langan refund the entire fee. On June 21, 2017, the client repeated his demand for a return of his fees, and gave Langan until July 1, 2017 to do so. The client made a similar request a week later.

On December 4, 2017, Langan finally mailed his client a check for $1,186, representing the unearned portion of the advanced fee, as calculated by Langan. According to Langan, the check was later returned uncashed. Langan never provided his client the written post-termination notices regarding the client’s right to dispute the fee and to have any unresolved fee dispute submitted to binding fee arbitration.

By failing to provide his client required written post-termination notices regarding the client’s right to dispute the fee in the matter and to have any unresolved fee dispute submitted to binding fee arbitration, Langan violated SCR 20:1.5(g) (2), which states in part, “Upon termination of the representation, the lawyer shall deliver to the client in writing all of the following…c. Notice that, if the client disputes the amount of the fee and wants that dispute to be submitted to binding arbitration, the client must provide written notice of the dispute to the lawyer within 30 days of the mailing of the accounting. d. Notice that, if the lawyer is unable to resolve the dispute to the satisfaction of the client within 30 days after receiving notice of the dispute from the client, the lawyer shall submit the dispute to binding arbitration.”

Following the May 26, 2017 termination of his representation, by delaying until December 4, 2017 to attempt to return any portion of the advanced fee paid for the representation, Langan violated SCR 20:1.16(d), which states, “Upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests, such as … refunding any advance payment of fee or expense that has not been earned or incurred.”

As a pre-condition of this public reprimand, Langan made a refund of the unearned portion of the advanced fee.

Matters No. 2 and 3

2017 Overdraft

In 2017 and 2018, Langan maintained an IOLTA client trust account at Chase Bank. On January 30, 2017, OLR received a Notice of Insufficient Funds from Chase Bank relating to an overdraft from Langan’s client trust account occurring on January 19, 2017. In January of 2017, Langan frequently deposited earned fees into his client trust account and wrote two trust account checks for personal expenses.

During January and March of 2017, Langan made several electronic deposits and transfers into or from his trust account. On or around January 19, 2017, Langan authorized an electronic debit of $494.71 from his trust account for a personal expense. The balance in his trust account at the time was $437.65, and Chase Bank denied the transaction. By January 27, 2017, Langan’s trust account balance was $1,089.71. That day, Chase Bank cleared the previously denied $494.71 debit. While Langan maintained trust account records for this period, they did not identify each transaction’s purpose or the associated client.

2018 Overdraft

On March 14, 2018, Langan’s trust account had a balance of $1,673.57. On Thursday, March 15, 2018, Langan deposited a cashier’s check for $122,250 into his trust account, in connection with a purported collection matter. Unbeknownst to Langan, the check had been fraudulently altered and was invalid. On that day and the next, Langan made several online transfers totaling $1,450 from his trust account. The account’s balance at the end of March 16, 2018 was $122,473.57; without the altered check it would have been $223.57.

On Sunday, March 18, 2018, Langan made an electronic transfer of $100 from his trust account. On Monday, March 19, 2018, Chase Bank reversed the $122,250 deposit, as it learned the check had been altered. The balance in Langan’s trust account was $123.57. That day, Langan attempted to make four online transfers totaling $3,000 from his client trust account. Chase Bank denied the transfers due to insufficient funds.

On March 20, 2018, Langan also wrote two checks: one for $175 and another for $75. Chase Bank cleared the check for $75, but denied payment on the $175 check because of insufficient funds. On March 21, 2018, Langan deposited sufficient funds to cover the $175 check. During March of 2018, Langan made additional electronic transfers to and from his client trust account, including depositing earned client fees.

By depositing earned fees and other personal funds into the client trust account, Langan violated SCR 20:1.15(b)(3), which states, “No funds belonging to the lawyer or law firm, except funds reasonably sufficient to pay monthly account service charges, may be deposited or retained in a trust account.”

Langan received a public reprimand in 2011 and a Supreme Court-imposed private reprimand in 2018.

In accordance with SCR 22.09(3), Attorney Alf RHR Langan is hereby publicly reprimanded.

Dated this 6th day of February, 2020.