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Nun defender reprimanded, fined

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//December 29, 2010//

Nun defender reprimanded, fined

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//December 29, 2010//

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By Scott Bauer
Associated Press

Madison – A Wisconsin attorney who defended a nun convicted of sexually abusing two teenage boys was reprimanded and fined Dec. 21 for also initially representing one of the victims.

Milwaukee attorney Nikola Kostich committed an “egregious conflict of interest,” the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in its 4-2 opinion. Two justices argued that his law license should have been suspended for 60 days as well, noting that he had been reprimanded twice before.

Kostich defended Norma Giannini, a nun who was convicted in 2008 of two felony sexual abuse charges for assaulting two teens at St. Patrick’s School in Milwaukee in the 1960s. She was sentenced to one year in jail.

Before representing Giannini, Kostich met with one of the victims who described being abused by Giannini when he was a 13-year-old eighth-grade student at the school where she served as principal. The victim met with Kostich in late 1996 or early 1997 to discuss bringing a civil lawsuit and turned over medical records from his therapist.

After the meetings, Kostich said he would not take the case because he believed the statute of limitations had run out on a civil lawsuit.

In 2006, the victim contacted police about a possible criminal case against Giannini. She was subsequently charged with two felony counts of indecent behavior with a child for the assaults against the victim and another student.

When the case came to court in 2007, Kostich appeared as Giannini’s attorney and entered a not guilty plea. The victim contacted Kostich and objected to his representing Giannini, but Kostich said there was no conflict of interest, denying that he had ever represented the victim.

The victim then filed a complaint with the state’s Office of Lawyer Regulation, which determined that Kostich did represent the victim and there was a conflict of interest with him taking on the case of the nun.

The Supreme Court agreed, saying that Kostich’s refusal not to represent Giannini “reflects a troubling lack of awareness of or attention to the rights of his clients or his responsibility as a lawyer to guard sensitive information with which he had been entrusted.”

In addition to the reprimand, Kostich was ordered to take ongoing legal education coursework for ethics and pay all costs associated with the complaint, which were around $9,800 as of March.

Justice David Prosser did not participate in the decision. Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley dissented, noting that a license suspension was warranted given his two previous reprimands.

Kostich was reprimanded in 1986 for failing to file a tax return. He was reprimanded again in 2005 for numerous violations.

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