State Supreme Court suspends attorney for 1 year

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Wisconsin justices on Friday suspended a Milwaukee-area attorney from practicing law in Wisconsin for one year.

Matthew Siderits was suspended after he was found to have misrepresented his billable hours while employed at the Milwaukee firm of Otjen, Van Ert & Weir SC.

According to court records, Siderits exploited his position as the firm’s treasurer to misrepresent his billable hours in 2007 and 2008. He did so to earn bonuses for working more than 1,800 billable hours, according to court records. Combined, these bonuses totaled $46,978.

He remained treasurer until the firm terminated his employment in June 2009. During Office of Lawyer Regulation proceedings, Siderits admitted that the firm discharged him for allegedly being paid compensation for which he may not have been entitled. He denied any allegations of wrongdoing, however.

The court’s referee disagreed, however, stating, “Siderits was manipulating his billing records for the sole purpose of achieving a bonus. That conclusion is inescapable. To ignore the numerous and substantial transactions put into evidence is impossibly unrealistic.”

The referee requested an 18-month suspension. But because Siderits has no previous disciplinary history, lost his job with the firm and paid $60,000 to the firm to compensate for the bonuses to which he was not entitled and for other unspecified damages, state justices decided to suspend him for only 12 months. He also is required to pay the costs of the proceedings, which totaled $18,917 as of Oct. 22.