Jackson attorney adds to lengthy disciplinary list

Listen to this article

A Jackson attorney disciplined eight times by the Wisconsin Supreme Court is adding another to his list with a year-long suspension.

The court on Friday suspended Arik Guenther for a year for violating attorney conduct rules 18 times, according to a per curiam decision.

The violations mostly stem from a divorce from his wife and the subsequent fallout. According to the decision, his then-wife obtained an injunction prohibiting Guenther from contacting her other than through an attorney or law enforcement officer.

Guenther filed for divorce in April 2009 and a judgment was entered in November of that year. During the proceeding, his ex-wife was represented by an attorney and Gunether represented himself.

In October 2010, though, Guenther mailed documents to his ex-wife as well as to a judge, claiming that “I am unable to have [her] served at her place of employment as they will not allow it and her former lawyer told me that he was no longer willing to accept anything on her behalf, therefore I am forced to attempt service in this fashion.” But, according to the court, that was not true, as her attorney never said that.

READ OUR RELATED CASE DIGEST

However, Guenther did it again three days later, and prosecutors subsequently charged him with violating a domestic abuse order in two cases.

In June 2011, Guenther appeared by phone for a motion hearing in his criminal case, despite the judge not giving him permission to do so. The judge fined him $100 as a sanction, which he was to pay within seven days. Guenther did not pay it, though, and did not appear at the next two hearings, according to the decision.

In 2012, though, he pleaded no contest and guilty to the violations, according to the decision.

Guenther was also suspended for a drunken driving and bail jumping conviction from 2011, according to the decision. He did not notify the Office of Lawyer Regulation of those convictions, according to the decision.

According to the decision, Guenther said he could not defend himself against the allegations. The OLR recommended a six-month suspension, but a referee said a year was necessary. The court agreed, noting that this case was similar to previous cases, which also involved situations with his ex-wife.

“This repetition of misconduct makes the violations in this matter more troubling and worthy of a lengthier suspension, which hopefully will impress upon him the seriousness of his misconduct and the need to conform his conduct to both the criminal laws of this state and the Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys,” the court’s decision states.

In addition to the suspension, the court ordered Guenther to pay $2,070.35 for the cost of the disciplinary proceeding.

Guenther graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1981. His Wisconsin law license has been suspended since 2005. He petitioned for reinstatement in 2006, 2008 and 2010 but all were dismissed by the court.

Guenther has been suspended four times, publicly reprimanded once and privately reprimanded three times. The court, in its decision, calls his disciplinary history “troubling.”

Guenther could not immediately be reached for comment. Follow @eheisigWLJ