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OLR seeks 60-day suspension for Madison lawyer

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//April 3, 2017//

OLR seeks 60-day suspension for Madison lawyer

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//April 3, 2017//

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A Madison lawyer is facing a 60-day suspension of her law license for alleged misconduct stemming from her representation of three clients.

According to an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed on March 7, Michele Tjader committed nine counts of misconduct.

A woman hired Tjader in 2014 to represent her in a Dane County drunken-driving case and paid Tjader $3,500 in advanced fees, according to the complaint. The OLR alleges that Tjader failed to find out the status of the client’s license and mitigate the consequences of filing a late demand for a hearing concerning the client’s refusal to take an intoxication test. The client later fired Tjader, who failed to refund unearned fees to the client and issue the sort of notices that are required when fees are deposited into a business account rather than a trust account, according to the OLR.

Another client had hired Tjader to represent her after getting a ticket for her first drunken-driving ticket. The client paid Tjader $4,500 in advanced fees, which Tjader put in her business account, according to the complaint.

After the matter was resolved by a stipulation, the client requested a final account of the fees she had paid, a copy of the stipulation and a copy of a surveillance video. The OLR alleges Tjader failed to respond to the client’s request and also failed to deliver the required notices concerning the advanced fees. It also stated that any fees disputes would be submitted to binding arbitration.

The remaining charges stem from Tjader’s representation of an Elkhorn woman who had hired Tjader in 2013 to represent her in a homicide case in Oneida County. According to the complaint, the client paid Tjader $25,000 in advanced fees but denied ever receiving or signing a fee agreement. Tjader provided the OLR with a copy of the fee agreement she contended the client had agreed to, according to the OLR.

The complaint alleges Tjader paid someone $1,500 to perform an accident reconstruction in the client’s case. But the reconstruction was never performed, according to the OLR. Tjader negotiated the return of part of the $1,500 and assured the client the full amount would be reimbursed but it never was, according to the complaint.

The client accepted a plea deal in 2015 and entered a no-contest plea to receive reduced charges. But Tjader never informed the client that the court had issued a restitution order in her case, according to the OLR.

The OLR is asking that the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspend Tjader’s license for 60 days and order her to pay $1,250 in restitution to the client from Elkhorn.

Tajder earned her law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1996. The Wisconsin Supreme Court publicly reprimanded her in 2002 for lack of competence and diligence, failing to comply with reasonable requests for information, failing to return unearned fees paid in advance and for conduct involving dishonesty and misrepresentation. The court also privately reprimanded her in 2006 and 2014.

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