Self-Banned From Potawatomi Casino

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has denied reinstatement to a petitioner who had been suspended for three years in 2011

Attorney Schoenecker was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin in 2004. He is a graduate of Boston College and Columbia Law School. He practiced briefly in New York, practiced at Quarles & Brady in Milwaukee for a time, and then went to a small law firm in Delavan called the Clair Law Offices…

Much of the misconduct in that case arose out of Attorney Schoenecker’s personal and professional relationship with his former fiancé, M.F.

…In addition to the misconduct involving M.F., Attorney Schoenecker also set up his own separate law firm on the side  while he was working as an associate attorney for the Clair Law Office and did not inform the firm of this fact.

The final part of Attorney Schoenecker’s misconduct giving rise to the three-year suspension involved fraudulent statements on his own personal bankruptcy proceeding.

Then came a follow on one-year suspension in 2016

The misconduct in that case concerned his involvement in a business partnership he entered into in 2012 with M.M. and T.H. The men established a limited liability company called GameMaster, LLC. T.H. gave Attorney Schoenecker $25,000 in cash as his capital contribution, and M.M. contributed $20,000. Instead of immediately depositing T.H.’s $25,000 into a GameMaster account, Attorney Schoenecker deposited the bulk of the money into his own personal checking account. He also used company funds to pay his personal credit card bills without preapproval from his partners, and he withdrew funds from company accounts in order to gamble at Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee.

In the reinstatement

Attorney Schoenecker testified that in 2015 he started seeing a mental health professional who specializes in gambling addictions, James Harrison. Attorney Schoenecker said with Mr. Harrison’s help he has been able to abstain from gambling. Attorney Schoenecker also explained that he banned himself from the Potawatomi Casino, and he also attends Gamblers Anonymous meetings. Mr. Harrison wrote a letter saying “if [Attorney Schoenecker] continues with his treatment plan, utilizes his support system, makes the changes that are necessary in his life, and continues to act and live responsibly, the chance for the situation to re-occur is minimal.” Mr. Harrison went on to state that in his professional opinion, if Attorney Schoenecker’s law license were reinstated, “he would continue to perform his duties as an attorney in an extremely professional manner. His prognosis is excellent.”

T.H. opposed reinstatement as did an attorney with Clair Law Offices.

M.F. had this to say on his return to practice

her response was “Certainly not . . . I’m scared for the public if he keeps his law license.” She went on to say:

He’s an opportunist. He’s shown to be an opportunist. [He] will take advantage at any point he can. He has taken advantage of his next of kin, myself being his fiancée, two best friends, and the gentleman from Clair Law Office.

On cross-examination, M.F. said that the opinions she expressed came from “information or experiences I had over ten years ago.”

Petitioner argued that the people from his past did not know who he is now.

The court

Upon careful review of the matter, we adopt the referee’s findings and conclusions and agree with the referee that at this time Attorney Schoenecker has failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that he has met the high burden of proof imposed upon him by SCR 22.31. We do not reach this decision lightly. Attorney Schoenecker has not practiced law since 2011. The record demonstrates that he has made progress toward addressing the root causes of the behavior that led to his two suspensions. He is to be commended for attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings and continuing to seek treatment from Mr. Harrison. His volunteer efforts in the community are also commendable. However, we share the referee’s concern that Attorney Schoenecker has failed to fully account for moral lapses other than his gambling addiction, and he has failed to explain how the moral lapses unrelated to the gambling addiction have been addressed to insure they will not recur in the future.

He can reapply in six months.

Justice Ziegler concurred

I agree with the court that at this time Attorney Schoenecker has failed to establish the requirements for the reinstatement of his license to practice law in Wisconsin. I write separately because I have concern that the court may appear to be suggesting that if certain things are done, Attorney Schoenecker will be reinstated. See majority op., ¶30. The majority’s comments about what Attorney Schoenecker might do differently the next time around should not, in my view, be read as prophesying what the court’s decision will be in a subsequent reinstatement proceeding. At a subsequent proceeding Attorney Schoenecker bears the burden of demonstrating to the court that he should be reinstated. The criteria the court today suggests may or may not prove to be sufficient.

For the foregoing reason, I respectfully concur.

I am authorized to state that Justice SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON joins this concurrence.

(Mike Frisch)