High court reprimands Pewaukee attorney

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a Pewaukee attorney for getting a third drunken-driving citation, as well as for various trust-account violations.

Tuesday’s disciplinary action stems from an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed Oct. 9 against Leonard Adent, alleging five counts of misconduct. One count was related to Adent’s third misdemeanor drunken-driving charge, which was from Nov. 25, 2014.

Three of the counts related to various violations of the state’s trust-account rules, including that Adent had failed to have separate business and trust accounts and failed to maintain the required trust-account records. The fifth count involved Adent’s acceptance of a loan from a client without the proper disclosures.

The OLR had asked the high court to publicly reprimand Adent, who later reached a stipulation with the OLR, agreeing to the public reprimand. He also agreed to several conditions, including that he would establish a business account, submit to drug or alcohol abuse monitoring and submit all trust-account records quarterly to the OLR.

The majority of the justices agreed with the OLR on Tuesday, noting that there were both mitigating and aggravating factors in Adent’s case. Among them: That Adent had no dishonest or selfish motive, that he suffered from personal problems that led to the trust account violations and that he cooperated and was remorseful for his conduct.

However, Justice Shirley Abrahamson dissented from Tuesday’s decision, writing that the discipline the court imposed was insufficient and does not follow the court’s policy for progressive discipline.

“I recognize that several cases have imposed a public reprimand for OWI violations,” she wrote. “On reflection, I think some of these sanctions were not adequate and should not be followed in the instant case.”

Abrahamson said, given Adent’s disciplinary history, a minimum 60-day suspension of his license is appropriate. The court publicly reprimanded Adent, a 1964 University of Wisconsin Law School graduate who has been licensed since 1967, in 2012 for misconduct including a second drunken-driving charge and failing to provide competent representation.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley joined in Abrahamson’s dissent.