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Paul Strouse (“Strouse”) is a Wisconsin
attorney whose State Bar identification
number is 1017891. Strouse practices law in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Strouse was first
licensed to practice law in Wisconsin on
October 3, 1991.
A client hired Strouse to file a
Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding. Strouse
filed the bankruptcy action in May of 2008,
and over the next several months filed all
the required schedules, met with creditors,
and succeeded in having a plan confirmed.
The client made all payments in accordance
with the approved plan.
In May of 2009, the client advised
Strouse that he wanted to move to Georgia
for health reasons, and, in addition, wanted
to surrender two residential properties he
owned. Strouse advised the client,
incorrectly, that he needed to convert his
bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 proceeding and
charged the client another fee to convert
the case. After converting the case to a
Chapter 7 proceeding, Strouse acknowledged
during a June, 2009 section 341 meeting of
creditors that that he had made an error as
his client, a disabled veteran, had
sufficient income to disqualify him from a
Chapter 7 filing. Strouse therefore
promised his client, the U.S. Trustee, as
well as the Court, that he would re-convert
the case back to a Chapter 13 proceeding.
Strouse never completed the
conversion, claiming that his client had
changed his mind and did not want to proceed
with the bankruptcy. However, Strouse did
not document this purported discussion and
the client expressly denied that he wanted
to abandon the bankruptcy.
Later, after moving to Georgia, the
client attempted to communicate with
Strouse, without success. Ultimately, the
client wrote Strouse and informed him that
it was his understanding that the case would
be reconverted to a Chapter 13 and advised
Strouse that he did not know the status of
his case. The client filed his letter with
the Court, prompting a letter from the U.S.
Trustee who also detailed instances of
miscommunication by Strouse with regard to
the bankruptcy proceeding. Ultimately,
Strouse did not reconvert the case, and the
Court dismissed the entire proceeding,
resulting in the client being subjected to
creditor claims.
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By failing to reconvert his client’s case to
a Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding after
erroneously converting the case to a Chapter
7 bankruptcy proceeding, resulting in the
dismissal of the original Chapter 13 filing,
Strouse failed to act with reasonable
diligence and promptness in representing a
client, in violation of SCR 20:1.3, which
provides, “A lawyer shall act with
reasonable diligence and promptness in
representing a client.”
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By failing to respond to his client’s
inquiries or otherwise keep the client
reasonably informed regarding the status of
the his bankruptcy filing, Strouse violated
SCR 20:1.4(a)(3), which provides, in
relevant part, “(a) A lawyer shall: . . .
(3) Keep the client reasonably informed
about the status of a matter” and SCR 20:1.4
(a)(4), which provides, in relevant
part, “(a) A lawyer shall. . .(4) Promptly
comply with reasonable requests by the
client for information; . . . .”
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By failing to explain the bankruptcy
proceedings sufficiently to his client,
including failing to memorialize in writing
his client’s options with regard to the
bankruptcy and the consequences of the
dismissal of the action, Strouse prevented
his client from making informed decisions
regarding the representation, and therefore
Strouse violated SCR 20:1.4(b), which
provides, “A lawyer shall explain a matter
to the extent reasonably necessary to permit
the client to make informed decisions
regarding the representation.
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Respondent has one prior public reprimand,
imposed in 2010.
In accordance with SCR 22.09(3), Attorney
Paul Strouse is hereby publicly reprimanded.
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