Colleen J. Locke is a Wisconsin-licensed attorney, whose address of record is 125 S. Main St., Jefferson, Wisconsin, 53549-1631.

Matter 1

In August 2008, a woman hired Attorney Colleen J. Locke and another attorney (“co- counsel”) not in the same law firm and paid them $500 to represent her in a bankruptcy matter. She later paid an additional $100. The parties did not enter a written fee agreement. The arrangement was that Locke, whose office is in Jefferson, Wisconsin, would prepare all the paperwork in the matter, and co-counsel would appear in court as his office was in Milwaukee. The attorneys intended to charge whatever fee the court normally allowed in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, which they determined to be $2,500, and the fee would be belong to Locke.

Locke had seldom handled any bankruptcy matters, but in June 2008 she decided to develop a bankruptcy practice. Co-counsel had regularly appeared on behalf of a creditor in bankruptcy court, and had long ago been a trustee in bankruptcy, but had filed very few bankruptcy petitions for his own clients. When they began representing the client, co-counsel hired a paralegal who purportedly had experience in bankruptcy cases.

On September 15, 2008, the attorneys filed a petition for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection on behalf of the client and paid the $300 filing fee. The petition indicated that Locke was the attorney of record and that the attorney fee would be $3,000, with $500 already paid. That day, the deputy clerk for the bankruptcy court issued a notice of deficient filing.

On September 17, 2008, the attorneys filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan that showed the attorney’s fee would total $5,000. According to co-counsel, the paralegal had drafted the bankruptcy plan and included the wrong sum for the attorney’s fee. Upon discovering the paralegal’s error, on September 18, 2008, co-counsel terminated the paralegal and paid him the remaining $300 of the advanced fee for his work on the case. Thereafter, Locke prepared all of the documents for the client’s case.

On October 22, 2008, one of the creditors filed an objection to the bankruptcy plan on the grounds that the amount proposed to be paid in the plan did not cover the total debt. On October 24, 2008, the attorneys filed an amended Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan providing that the total attorney fee was $2,500, with $500 already paid. After a hearing regarding the creditor’s objection, the attorneys informed the court they would file another amended plan.

On December 3, 2008, the bankruptcy trustee reported to the court that documents from the bankruptcy plan were missing or needed to be amended, including Form B22C Statement of Current Monthly Income. On December 15, 2008, the attorneys filed another amended bankruptcy plan, as well as an amended Form B22C.

On December 23, 2008, the bankruptcy trustee filed a motion to dismiss the case because of delay that was prejudicial to the creditors. The motion provided that at the initial meeting of creditors on October 23, 2008, the trustee had expressed concerns about a missing B22C Form, inconsistent statements as to how much in attorney fees were to be paid through the plan, and problems with Schedule I, Current Income of Individual Debtor. The motion explained that the trustee adjourned the meeting to December 4, 2008 and then to December 18, 2008 for the debtor to correct the problems, but they had not been resolved, causing unreasonable and prejudicial delay to the creditors. In addition, though an amended Chapter 13 plan and B22C Form were filed on December 15, 2008, an amended Schedule I was not filed and the amended plan contained conflicting information as to the amount of attorney fees yet to be paid, either $2,000 or $2,500. The motion outlined five specific errors in the latest B22C Form, the result of which would be that the client would pay only 10% of the amount owed to creditors, when in fact had the form been filled out correctly, the client would be required to pay 100% of the amount owed, as the debtor failed to contribute all of her disposable income as required. Accordingly, the trustee requested the case be dismissed. The court gave the parties until January 16, 2009 to respond to the motion to dismiss. Locke and co-counsel did not respond to the motion by that date.

On December 30, 2008, the client sent Locke a letter expressing her concerns about the bankruptcy trustee’s objection to the plan. In her grievance with OLR, the client noted that her son’s student loan, on which the client was a co-signer, was mistakenly included in her bankruptcy petition, resulting in both the client and her son making payments towards his student loan, and the client paying more than she should have if the bankruptcy petition had been filed properly.

On January 6, 2009, the attorneys filed an amended Form B22C and a Form 2016(b) Disclosure of Compensation of Attorney, which provided that her attorney fee was to be a total of $3,000.00. On January 21, 2009, the attorneys filed an Amended Schedule I Current Income of Individual Debtor, and an amended Disclosure of Compensation of Attorney, which provided that her attorney fee was to be a total of $3,000.00. On January 26, 2009, the attorneys filed another amended Form B22C.

On February 9, 2009, one day before the hearing, the attorneys filed a motion in opposition to the trustee’s motion to dismiss. In her supporting affidavit, Locke acknowledged that the client was willing to pay up to 100% of the amount owed to creditors. That day, the attorneys also filed another amended Form B22C. On February 10, 2009, the attorneys filed yet another amended Form B22C. The court’s February 10, 2009 minutes provide in part:

The Court sustained the trustee’s objection to confirmation of the Chapter 13 plan, and gave the debtor 30 days to file an amended plan and an amended B22C form.