Professional Responsibility — suspension

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Civil

Professional Responsibility — suspension

Where attorney Benjamin C. Butler received a 30-day suspension in Illinois, reciprocal discipline is appropriate.

“This is a companion case to In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Addison, 2012 WI 38 (No. 2010AP3014-D), which is being released at the same time as this opinion. Both cases involve the same underlying set of facts and one or more criminal convictions arising from those facts. As in that proceeding, we are called upon here to decide whether to impose discipline reciprocal to that imposed by the Supreme Court of Illinois, which in this case would be a 30-day suspension of the license of Attorney Benjamin C. Butler to practice law in Wisconsin. Although Attorney Butler’s admitted conduct, like the conduct of Attorney Stephan Addison, is both unprofessional and unseemly, and although we may have imposed a more severe level of discipline if the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) had prosecuted this matter directly in the first instance rather than filing a reciprocal discipline complaint, given the standards in our rules that apply to reciprocal discipline situations, we determine that we must impose the same 30-day license suspension in this matter as the Supreme Court of Illinois imposed. We do not impose costs on Attorney Butler, given his agreement that reciprocal discipline should be imposed, which obviated the need for the appointment of a referee and the costs of a full disciplinary proceeding.”

2010AP3013-D OLR v. Butler

Per Curiam.

Attorneys: For Complainant: Spoke, Julie Marie, Madison; For Respondent: Stanton, Marie A., Madison; Butler, Benjamin C., Chicago, IL