‘Overwhelmed’ attorney faces 2-year suspension

Listen to this article

A Delafield attorney faces a two-year suspension after allegedly mishandling client money for several years.

Thomas McClure – who handles criminal, business, personal injury and traffic cases – allegedly took money from his clients’ trust accounts, misrepresented client fees and failed to explain his fees when he began representing a client, according to a complaint filed Thursday by the state Office of Lawyer Regulation.

The OLR alleges McClure committed 21 counts of misconduct and has asked the state Supreme Court to suspend his law license for two years.

McClure, who graduated from Marquette University Law School in 1980, didn’t return a message left Monday. He was a Delafield Common Council alderman and president from 1988 to 1990, and also served on the city’s planning and fire and police commissions.

According to the complaint, McClure is taking responsibility for his actions and is “extremely remorseful” for failing his client.

The OLR’s investigation started, according to the complaint, when one of McClure’s former clients complained that the attorney didn’t pay on-time medical bills from money the client won in a settlement.

The OLR’s petition details how long it took for McClure to pay each bill. The last bill was paid more than two years after the settlement, the complaint states, and McClure paid nearly $1,700 more than what was originally owed, most likely because of late fees, penalties and interest.

After McClure’s client filed a grievance, the OLR began investigating McClure’s finances and found that he often was mixing money from his accounts, according to the complaint, and using it for client, business and personal expenses.

During the OLR’s inquiry, McClure’s attorney told investigators that the mishandling happened because McClure “has had not support staff since approximately 2005.”

“He has therefore been solely responsible for all administrative duties for his firm,” the attorney wrote. “Unfortunately, he became overwhelmed attempting to balance the demands of doing professional quality legal work for his clients … and attending to the everyday details of running an office.”

McClure’s attorney also told the OLR there is a good chance some of that money “ultimately was spent on Christmas gifts, birthday presents, etc.” And in August of 2008, the attorney said, McClure loaned $4,400 in trust account funds to one of his sons, which he used to purchase a used automobile.

When the complaint was drafted, McClure was several years behind on his taxes and owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service and state Department of Revenue.

“His reaction to the situation at the time was to block from his mind the specifics of his trust problems,” McClure’s attorney told the OLR, “and, in order to deal with the stress of the mess he had created, resolve to straighten matters out …”

— Follow Eric on Twitter