By: Derek Hawkins//July 11, 2016//
WI Supreme Court
Case Name: Office of Lawyer Regulation v. William J. Spanger
Case No.: 2014AP2633-D
Focus: Disciplinary Proceedings
Attorney license is suspended for numerous violations
“Even though Attorney Spangler has no prior disciplinary history and even though we acknowledge the existence of various other mitigating factors, we conclude that the misconduct at issue here is more serious than the misconduct at issue in either Fitzgerald or Mauch and calls for a more severe sanction. The ruses in Fitzgerald and Mauch were of relatively short duration and involved only one case. By contrast, Attorney Spangler falsified documents in two cases and, over the span of years, created a whole host of documents for the sole purpose of misleading his clients into believing that their suits were pending when in fact they were not. Accordingly, we conclude that a six-month suspension of Attorney Spangler’s license to practice law in Wisconsin is an appropriate sanction. A six-month suspension, which will require Attorney Spangler to file a petition for reinstatement, see SCR 22.28(3), will impress upon him the seriousness of his misconduct and deter other attorneys from engaging in similar misconduct in the future. We agree with the referee that Attorney Spangler should bear the full costs of this proceeding.
Concurring:
Dissenting: