Fond du Lac attorney faces public reprimand for alleged mishandling of fees

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A Fond du Lac attorney could face a public reprimand for, among other things, mishandling fees and failing to return fees he did not earn.

In a complaint filed Tuesday, the Office of Lawyer regulation alleged that Philip Shepherd committed 10 counts of misconduct involving three clients.

A couple hired Shepherd in 2013 to draft a power of attorney for the wife’s mother, according to the complaint. They later asked him to draft paperwork for a guardianship and paid him $2,000 in advanced fees, which he placed in a business account instead of a trust account.

However, the couple later told Shepherd they did not need the guardianship paperwork. There was no written fee agreement, which is required if the cost of representation exceeds $1,000. The couple also later had him draft an estate plan and form an LLC, intending to use the money they had paid for the cancelled guardianship documents to instead cover the cost of the work.

But when the couple asked for an accounting and a refund of any unearned fees, Shepherd did not provide them. They filed a grievance, and Shepherd eventually sent the OLR an invoice showing $1,577.50 going toward the work he had done for the couple and $622.50 in unearned fees. Shepherd has not paid any refunds, though, according to the OLR.

Shepherd also took money for work on a planned farm sale that he never completed and failed to respond to a client’s requests for information, according to the complaint. A woman had hired Shepherd in January 2014 to draft documents for the sale of a farm. He told the woman it would take a month to complete the work, and she paid him $1,000 in advanced fees without having a written fee agreement.

Shepherd never deposited the money into a trust account, according to the OLR, and never completed the work. The woman attempted to get in touch with Shepherd, according to the complaint, by leaving voicemails, stopping by his office and leaving notes on his office door. Still, Shepherd never responded.

The client hired another attorney, but Shepherd never paid back the $1,000 fee despite her requests, according to the OLR. When reimbursement finally came, in December 2014, it was from the Wisconsin Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection.

The OLR also alleges that Shepherd practiced law while his license was suspended and failed to cooperate with the OLR when it investigated the matter. Shepherd’s license has been suspended since October 31, 2014, for failing to submit a trust account certification and not paying bar dues, among other things. Yet, in March 2015, he drafted a will and other documents for a client, who paid him $700. And when the OLR requested information about that work, Shepherd failed to respond.

Shepherd could not immediately be reached Thursday.

The OLR is asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to publicly reprimand Shepherd and order him to pay $622.50 in restitution to the couple who hired him to do legal work and $1,000 in restitution to the Wisconsin Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection.

Shepherd was admitted to practice in Wisconsin in 2006. He earned his law degree from the William Mitchell School of Law in St. Paul, Minn.