|
ATTORNEY disciplinary proceeding.
Attorney's license suspended.
|
|
1. PER CURIAM. We review the stipulation
filed by Attorney
Jane Edgar and the Office of Lawyer
Regulation (OLR) pursuant to SCR 22.12,
which sets forth findings of fact and
conclusions of law regarding Attorney
Edgar's professional misconduct. Attorney
Edgar is already under suspension for
misconduct committed between 1996 and 1999.
In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against
Edgar, 230 Wis. 2d 205, 601 N.W.2d 284
(1999). The 23 counts of misconduct that are
the subject of this disciplinary proceeding
were committed during the same period of
time as the matters addressed in the prior
disciplinary matter.
|
|
2. The parties have stipulated that a one-
year suspension of Attorney Edgar's license
to practice law is appropriate discipline
for the additional incidents of misconduct
described in the stipulation. The parties
also agree that the suspension should be
imposed retroactively, so that it will run
consecutive to the suspension imposed in the
prior disciplinary matter. The parties have
stipulated further that Attorney Edgar shall
pay restitution to four clients as set forth
herein, and that Attorney Edgar's
reinstatement shall be subject to certain
conditions, which are also set forth herein.
|
|
3. We accept the parties' stipulation and
recommendation as to the appropriate
discipline for Attorney Edgar.
|
|
4. Attorney Edgar was admitted to practice
in
1985. She was suspended effective March 22,
1999, for two years for converting $11,000
that belonged to a client and an adverse
party in a divorce action, for commingling
her own funds and client funds in her law
office business account, for making deposits
into and disbursements from that account for
personal expenses, and for having falsely
certified that she had a trust account and
that she maintained that trust account and
bank records in compliance with the
applicable rules governing the conduct of
attorneys. Id.
|
|
5. The stipulation submitted to this court
describes an additional 23 violations of the
Rules of Professional Conduct, many of which
were committed in the course of Attorney
Edgar's handling of six client matters
between 1996 and 1999. The remaining
violations relate to her failure to respond
to or cooperate with the OLR's investigation
into her misconduct.
|
|
6. Attorney Edgar suffers from depression.
She claims her depression affected her
conduct. Attorney Edgar is under the
supervision of a psychiatrist and she
receives social security disability benefits
due to her depression. She has advised the
court that she does not have sufficient
personal assets to enable her to pay the
restitution she admittedly owes. However,
the OLR notes that Attorney Edgar's
depression is not technically a mitigating
factor with respect to this disciplinary
proceeding because she has not medically
established that depression was a causal
factor in her conduct.
|
|
7. In December 2002 the OLR and Attorney
Edgar
agreed to resolve this matter and executed a
stipulation pursuant to SCR 22.12. The
stipulation states that Attorney Edgar
failed to take reasonably practicable steps
to protect her client's interests in
violation of SCR 20:1.16(d) (six counts);
failed to keep her client reasonably
informed or to comply with the client's
reasonable requests for information in
violation of 20:1.4(a) (five counts); failed
to act with reasonable diligence in
representing a client in violation of SCR
20:1.34 (four counts); failed to cooperate
with grievance investigations in violation
of former SCR 21.03(4) and former SCR 22.07
(3) (five counts); failed to render a full
accounting in connection with a fee advance
in violation of SCR 20:1.15(b) (one count);
practiced law while under CLE administrative
suspension for a period of three weeks in
violation of SCR 31.10(1) (one count); and
failed to obtain a written conflict waiver
in violation of SCR 20:1.7(a) (one count).
|
|
8. In addition to stipulating to the facts
relating to these incidents of misconduct,
the parties stipulated to discipline in the
form of a one-year suspension of Attorney
Edgar's license to practice law in
Wisconsin, to run consecutive to her present
suspension. The parties also agreed that
Attorney Edgar should be required to make
restitution of fees and costs collected in
four client matters. More specifically, the
stipulation provides that Attorney Edgar
should be ordered "to make restitution
of unrefunded fees/costs in the Day, Goomey,
Wudtke and Martin matters." Stipulation at
32 (emphasis in original).
|
|
9. By order dated March 3, 2003, this court
directed the parties to clarify the amount
of restitution Attorney Edgar should be
ordered to pay to each of the four clients
identified in the stipulation. The OLR
promptly filed a response, clarifying and
supporting its position that Attorney Edgar
should be required to make restitution to
Neal Day in the amount of $1500; to Diane
Goomey in the amount of $1000; to Mark
Wudtke in the amount of $425; and to Anne L.
Martin in the amount of $1700.
|
|
10. On March 17, 2003, Attorney Edgar filed
a letter stating that she did not agree with
the amounts of restitution proposed by the
OLR. She requested an extension of time to
search her business records and respond to
the OLR's memorandum. The request was
granted. The deadline for Attorney Edgar's
response has passed and she has filed
nothing further with this court.
|
|
11. Attorney Edgar has had repeated
opportunities to provide any verification of
amounts she earned or expended from these
clients. She has failed to do so. The OLR's
restitution assessment is consistent with
the OLR's grievance investigation, its
disciplinary complaint, and the SCR 22.12
stipulation. We therefore adopt the amounts
proposed by the OLR as appropriate
restitution in this matter.
|
|
12. Finally, the parties agreed that the
following conditions should apply to
Attorney Edgar's reinstatement:
|
|
(1) that Edgar's reinstatement be
contingent upon her demonstrating that she
has her depression and any other emotional
or psychological problems under control, by
her submission to an independent medical
examination (IME) by a health provider
approved by the OLR, at her own expense;
|
|
(2) that Edgar's licensure following
reinstatement be conditioned on Edgar
remaining in treatment as recommended by the
IME and/or her therapist, monitored by the
OLR via obtainment of quarterly reports for
a period of two years following her
reinstatement;
|
|
(3) that Edgar's practice of law be
monitored by an attorney approved by the OLR
for a period of two years following
reinstatement, unless Edgar is either
employed by a law firm or practicing with
another attorney aware of her disciplinary
and medical history.
|
|
13. It is relevant that many of the
violations described in the parties'
stipulation occurred at the same time as the
violations that gave rise to the previous
disciplinary matter. Indeed, some of the
violations involved the same client matters.
Accordingly, the parties suggest the one-
year suspension stipulated to herein be made
retroactive to March 21, 2001, the date
Attorney Edgar's previous two-year license
suspension ended. The practical effect of
this equates to the court having imposed an
aggregate three-year license suspension for
Attorney Edgar's cumulative misconduct in
these two matters.
|
|
14. We approve the stipulation and adopt
the stipulated facts and conclusions of law
as set forth therein. We agree that Attorney
Edgar's misconduct warrants the suspension
of her license to practice law for a period
of one year, subject to the conditions set
forth herein, and we agree that it is
appropriate for the one-year suspension we
impose today to commence effective March 21,
2001, in order to run consecutive to the
suspension imposed in the prior disciplinary
proceeding. We agree further that Attorney
Edgar should be required to pay restitution
to the four clients identified in the
stipulation and we adopt the amounts of
restitution proposed by the OLR.
|
|
15. IT IS ORDERED that the license of
Attorney Jane Edgar to practice law in
Wisconsin is suspended for a period of one
year, effective March 22, 2001.
|
|
16. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Attorney
Jane Edgar comply with the provisions of SCR
22.26 concerning the duties of a person
whose license to practice law in Wisconsin
has been suspended.
|
|
17. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Attorney
Jane Edgar is directed to make restitution
of unrefunded fees and or costs to the
following former clients, as follows: Neal
Day: $1500; Diane Goomey: $1000; Mark
Wudtke: $425; and Anne L. Martin: $1700. If
restitution is not made within 60 days, the
license of Attorney Jane Edgar to practice
law in Wisconsin shall remain suspended
until further order of the court.
|
|
18. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that any
reinstatement of Attorney Jane Edgar's
license to practice law in Wisconsin shall
be conditioned upon her satisfying the
following conditions:
|
|
(1) that Edgar's reinstatement be
contingent upon her demonstrating that she
has her depression and any other emotional
or psychological problems under control, by
her submission to an independent medical
examination (IME) by a health provider
approved by the OLR, at her own expense;
|
|
(2) that Edgar's licensure following
reinstatement be conditioned on Edgar
remaining in treatment as recommended by the
IME and/or her therapist, monitored by the
OLR via obtainment of quarterly reports for
a period of two years following her
reinstatement; and
|
|
(3) that Edgar's practice of law be
monitored by an attorney approved by the OLR
for a period of two years following
reinstatement, unless Edgar is either
employed by a law firm or practicing with
another attorney aware of her disciplinary
and medical history.
|