Referee recommends public reprimand for Mequon employment attorney

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A referee is recommending a public reprimand for a Mequon employment attorney who admitted to committing six counts of alleged misconduct.

The recommendation stems from a complaint filed by the Office of Lawyer Regulation in December charging Janet Heins with breaking several rules of professional conduct while representing three clients, including failing to participate in the arbitration of a fee dispute with a client and failing to hold settlement money in her trust account for a different client. The OLR sought a 60-day suspension of her license.

Heins filed a response in January, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court appointed James Mohr to be the referee in the case. A hearing was set for June 19 and June 20, but Heins and the OLR reached a stipulation on June 14, in which Heins admitted to the allegations laid out in the OLR’s complaint. The OLR requested that she be publicly reprimanded and ordered her to send a fee dispute with one of her clients to arbitration through the State Bar.

In a report filed on June 30, Mohr agreed that a public reprimand was appropriate, noting that although the court has a policy of progressive discipline and Heins, who has no history of discipline, admitted to the misconduct, the allegations are serious and extend over a long period. Mohr said the case is similar to other cases in which the court had doled out a public reprimand in response to a lawyer’s first tangle with the OLR.

Mohr also agreed that Heins should submit her fee dispute with her client to the State Bar’s arbitration program and that she should pay for the disciplinary proceeding.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will review Mohr’s decision and issue a final decision in the matter.