State Supreme Court suspends Mequon attorney for 2 years

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended Mequon attorney Patrick Cooper’s law license for two years, retroactive to the expiration of a prior disciplinary suspension ending March 23, 2010.

The retroactive suspension means Cooper may seek reinstatement at any time, although Cooper would face long, but not insurmountable, odds in achieving that result, said Milwaukee lawyer Ray Dall’Osto, who frequently represents attorneys charged with professional misconduct.

The Office of Lawyer’s Regulation’s complaint alleged 42 counts of misconduct from nine separate representations. They were:

• Four counts of lack of diligence;
• Seven counts of lack of communication with a client;
• One count of failing to explain matters to a client and to consult with the client regarding the means of pursuing objectives of the representation;
• Four counts of engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation;
• Nine counts of failing to deliver files to clients or successor counsel;
• Six counts of failing to notify clients, tribunals or opposing counsel of the suspension of his license;
• One count of practicing while his license was suspended;
• One count of failing to comply with the ALJ’s order; and
• Nine counts of failing to submit a written response to the grievances.

In the per curiam decision, the court ruled in just 17 pages by declining to detail Cooper’s every rules infraction, instead giving an “illustrative example.”

In the worker’s comp case, Cooper failed to provide opposing counsel with medical-records authorizations, which ultimately led to its dismissal. According to court records, Cooper didn’t return the client’s calls and didn’t provide the client’s file after he was fired.

Likewise, he didn’t respond to the OLR’s requests for a written response after the client filed a grievance. At one point, he also lied by telling the client there was a settlement offer, and he lied to the OLR by saying the file had been given to successor counsel.

The justices concluded, “This is a disturbing pattern of serious misconduct that goes to the core of an attorney’s obligations.”

In the first case, the OLR alleged 33 counts of misconduct, including conversion of client funds, multiple misrepresentations to clients, and depositing trust funds into his personal account. In that case, the high court suspended his license for three years, effective March 23, 2007.

To order the retroactive suspension in the second case, the justices reasoned that because some of the misconduct occurred nearly a decade ago, simultaneous to the misconduct at issue in the first case. If it all had been addressed in a single proceeding, the most severe discipline that could’ve been imposed would have been revocation, allowing Cooper to petition for reinstatement after five years.

“Imposing an additional suspension of two years in this proceeding, retroactive to the end of the prior three-year suspension, would similarly result in a five-year period of ineligibility to seek reinstatement,” the court wrote. “A retroactive suspension would also comport with our prior cases …”

The court ordered Cooper pay $914 in costs.

Although Cooper sought reinstatement in 2010, it wasn’t granted and he is not currently licensed to practice.

Dall’Osto said the retroactive suspension as a penalty is a fair disposition. It is similar, he said, to when a criminal defendant receives concurrent rather than consecutive sentences and is given credit for time served. Had the court ordered the suspension effective Wednesday, that would’ve been “piling on,” Dall’Osto said, making it more akin to a consecutive sentence.

The OLR does not engage in “plea bargaining,” he added. But in this case, it’s likely there was some give-and-take regarding the appropriateness of making the suspension retroactive. Initially Cooper denied the misconduct, but ultimately pleaded no-contest and didn’t appeal referee Christine Harris Taylor’s recommendation.

Cooper represented himself and did not immediately return a call seeking comment.