Milwaukee attorney charged with 27 counts of misconduct

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A Milwaukee attorney faces a one-year suspension of his license to practice law.

According to an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed July 13, Sergio Magaña committed 27 counts of misconduct involving seven clients who had hired him to represent them in immigration cases.

Magaña, a 2012 graduate of Marquette University Law School, could not be reached at the email address listed on the Office of Lawyer Regulation and State Bar of Wisconsin websites. No telephone number was listed.

According to the complaint, Magaña would lie to his clients about their cases, telling them he had made progress or filed documents when in fact he had done nothing. In one case, Magaña fabricated letters from the U.S. State Department, the OLR alleges.

He also would fail to return clients’ phone calls, did not tell his clients that he had left the law firm he was working for when they hired him and often failed to cooperate in the OLR’s investigations into his alleged misconduct. At one point Magaña failed to go along with 16 of the OLR’s investigations, so the OLR filed a motion with the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordering him to cooperate. The court granted the motion.

The OLR is asking the high court to suspend Magaña’s license for one year and for Magaña to pay $630 in restitution to one client.

According to the OLR and State Bar websites, Magaña’s license is active and in good standing. He has no history of professional discipline. Follow @erikastrebel