Wisconsin Supreme Court: No Sanction For Violation Unlikely To Recur

The Wisconsin Supreme Court found misconduct but declined to impose any sanction for an attorney’s billing for trust, estate and tax matters. 

Upon careful review of this matter, we conclude that although Attorney Wagner did violate SCR 20:1.5(b)(3), the violation does not warrant the imposition of any discipline. In addition, we find it appropriate, under the unique facts of this case, to depart from our normal custom of imposing full costs, which are $40,639.72 as of March 4, 2019. Instead, we deem it appropriate to require Attorney Wagner to pay $4,500 in costs…

We further agree with the referee’s conclusion of law that Attorney Wagner violated SCR 20:1.5(b)(3) by failing, for more than two years, to prepare and submit invoices for legal work she performed on behalf of the G. family. While T.G.’s actions no doubt irritated Attorney Wagner and some of his actions may have been without merit or justification, Attorney Wagner nonetheless had an obligation to promptly respond to requests for billing information. In addition, Attorney Wagner failed to keep contemporaneous time records as she went along that would have enabled her to prepare an invoice in a timely fashion. Although the referee concluded that Attorney Wagner’s health problems were a mitigating factor, she has failed to present evidence to show that her health problems prevented her from preparing the invoices for the entire 25 month period of the delay. Accordingly, we agree with the referee that Attorney Wagner violated SCR 20:1.5(b)(3).

In spite of the fact that we agree that the OLR met its burden of proof as to Count 2, we decline to impose any discipline. Although there was an unacceptable delay in Attorney Wagner’s producing the invoices, this case appears to present a unique set of circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated in Attorney Wagner’s future practice of law. For that reason, even though we agree that there was a violation of a supreme court rule, we opt not to impose any sanction.

And reduced the costs

Count 3 of the complaint, which alleged that Attorney Wagner charged an excessive fee for her services, was undisputedly the most serious charge lodged by the OLR. We conclude that if Count 3 had not been charged, the costs in this matter would have been far less. We conclude that absent Count 3 the costs would have been approximately $4,500. Thus, under the extraordinary circumstances of this case, we deem it appropriate to assess $4,500 in costs.

(Mike Frisch)