State Bar committee to consider claims against deceased attorney

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A State Bar committee is set to consider more than $600,000 in claims stemming from former clients of Appleton attorney Steven Wilson, who died in June at age 57.

The committee, which is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday, decides what to do with money in the Wisconsin Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection.

Wilson has 15 claims filed against him, all of which “involve the theft of personal injury settlement funds,” according to a December report from the bar’s Executive Director George Brown. Many of the claimants, Brown said, did not know that their personal injury claims had been settled.

A probate case for Wilson involves some of these claims and is pending in Outagamie County.

Money for the client protection fund comes from $20 assessment attorneys in state pay annually. As of December, 47 claims totaling $2.2 million were pending with the committee, which is much more than is in the fund itself.

The proceeding is closed to the public, as information about the claims is not available publicly until the committee approves them.