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High court publicly reprimands Mequon attorney

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 20, 2017//

High court publicly reprimands Mequon attorney

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 20, 2017//

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a Mequon employment attorney who admitted to six counts of alleged misconduct earlier this year.

Thursday’s discipline stems from a complaint filed by the Office of Lawyer Regulation in December charging Janet Heins with breaking several rules of professional conduct while representing three clients, including failing to participate in the arbitration of a fee dispute with her client and failing to hold settlement money in her trust account.

The OLR had initially sought a 60-day suspension of her license. In the end, she and the OLR reached a stipulation in which she admitted to the allegations in the complaint. The OLR asked that there be a public reprimand and that she be ordered to send a fee dispute with one of her clients to the State Bar’s arbitration program.

In a report filed in June, the referee in the case, Jim Mohr, accepted the stipulation and agreed that the public reprimand was appropriate. Mohr noted that Heins had no history of being disciplined and had admitted to the misconduct. Heins did not appeal Mohr’s report.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday, in a per curiam opinion, adopted Mohr’s recommendations, publicly reprimanding Heins and ordering that she submit one of her fee disputes with a client to the State Bar’s arbitration program.

The justices also ordered Heins to pay the costs of the proceeding,$2,378.02. That money is to be paid to the OLR within 60 days.

The court said that should Heins not follow its orders, the OLR may request the court to reopen the matter for additional discipline.

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