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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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