State’s high court disciplines suspended attorney

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended an attorney for nine months over seven counts of misconduct.

Pamela Smoler graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1988 and lived in Monona before moving to Fort Myers, Fla. However, she is not licensed to practice law in that state, according to The Florida Bar’s website.

Smoler’s license was suspended in Wisconsin in July 2011 for not cooperating with an Office of Lawyer Regulation investigation. She was also behind on her State Bar dues and continuing legal education credits.

Friday’s discipline stems from an April 2014 OLR complaint alleging Smoler had mishandled client money and ignored requests for information from both her clients and investigators.

Smoler neither responded to the complaint nor participated in the proceedings, so the court held her in default. The court, in its per curiam decision, mentioned that the referee assigned to the case said Smoler had an “otherwise unblemished record” and her failure to appear “further indicates her inability to function at a very basic level.”

Smoler could not immediately be reached Friday afternoon.

The OLR asked the court to suspend Smoler for nine months, and a referee asked that the court order her to pay $45,000 in restitution to one of her clients. The court agreed, also ordering Smoler to pay the full cost of the proceeding, or almost $3,000. Follow @erikastrebel