Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Pewaukee attorney faces public reprimand for drunken driving, trust account violations

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 12, 2015//

Pewaukee attorney faces public reprimand for drunken driving, trust account violations

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 12, 2015//

Listen to this article

A Pewaukee attorney faces a public reprimand over a third drunken driving ticket and trust account violations.

Leonard Adent earned his degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1964. He has been licensed to practice law in the state since 1967. According to the State Bar and Office of Lawyer Regulation website, his license is in good standing, and he is an emeritus member.

Adent was publicly reprimanded in 2012 for misconduct, including getting a second drunken driving ticket in 2011 in Fond du Lac County and failing to report it to the OLR.

According to an OLR complaint filed Oct. 9, Adent committed five counts of misconduct, which mostly stem from trust account violations. According to the complaint, Adent had a trust account with Waukesha State Bank since 2009, but did not have separate business and personal accounts. He kept his earned fees in the trust account and used that account to pay his personal expenses, according to the complaint. Adent eventually opened a personal account in March 2014 after a bank representative told him it could not cash anymore checks made payable to Adent.

The OLR alleges other trust account violations from 2013 to 2014, including how Adent commingled personal money and trust account money, including a loan he received from a client without written disclosures or the client’s written consent. Adent later submitted a written statement signed by THE client and backdated to 2014 after the OLR started investigating, according to courts documents.

Adent, according to the complaint, was also convicted of a third misdemeanor drunken driving charge Nov. 25. He was sentenced to 150 days in jail, was fined and his driver’s license was revoked for 33 months. After his arrest in April, Adent reported the arrest to the OLR.

He could not be reached for comment Monday.

The OLR is asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to publicly reprimand Adent and order him to:

  • submit to a drug abuse assessment;
  • provide signed medical confidentiality releases so medical providers can share substance-abuse related information with the OLR;
  • submit to drug monitoring;
  • refrain from consuming alcohol or drugs;
  • establish a business account and provide quarterly statements for that account for one year; and
  • provide copies quarterly of all the documents related to his trust account  for one year.

 

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests