Green Bay attorney faces public reprimand

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A Green Bay attorney faces a public reprimand following allegations that he mishandled client fees.

An OLR complaint filed Friday alleges Alf Langan, who practices in Green bay, committed 11 counts of misconduct stemming from the cases of six clients whose fees he is accused of mishandling. The OLR alleges that Langan entered into advanced fee agreements with clients, who then paid part or all of the fee. Langan is suspected of then failing to provide clients with an account of his fees at the end of his representation and, in a number of cases, taking months to refund unearned fees to clients.

The OLR is asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to publicly reprimand Langan for the alleged misconduct, according to the complaint.

Langan has been licensed to practice law in Wisconsin since 1991. He graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1984, according to the State Bar. Langan’s license is in good standing, according to both the OLR and the bar.

He could not immediately be reached Thursday.

This is not Langan’s first encounter with the OLR. He was publicly reprimanded in 2011 in two client matters. In a client’s tax case, he was found to have violated advertising rules, to have failed to act with due diligence and to have not refunded the unearned part of his fee. In the second case, Langan failed to competently represent a client in divorce and post-divorce matters, failed to advise that client about a conflict of interest related to fees and put his own interests above his client’s by having his client sign a release concerning malpractice without advising the client to get independent representation.