Beaver Dam attorney faces license suspension

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A Beaver Dam attorney faces a three-year license suspension over allegations that he took money from a guardianship estate he was appointed to and failed to return that money despite a court order to do so.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a complaint on Sept. 29 against Richard Steffes of Steffes Law Offices alleging six counts of misconduct stemming from his conduct as a guardian in a Dodge County guardianship case for Reuben S. Steffes had been appointed for Reuben a guardian in 1975.

According to the complaint, the court in February 2015 gave Steffes an order to show cause as to why no reports of the ward’s condition or accountings of the guardianship estate had been filed from 2010 to 2013. A month later, Steffes was granted a one-month extension but failed to file proper documents.

Six months later, a Dodge County Department of Human Services social worker petitioned for Steffes to be removed as guardian because he had not filed accountings of the ward’s estate from 2010 to 2014 and no reports about Rueben S.’s condition. Dodge County Circuit Court Judge John Storck appointed attorney Eamon Guerin to be guardian ad litem for Reuben S., and Guerin sent Steffes a document subpoena for records he needed to undertake an accounting and review Steffes’ conduct as a guardian.

The court granted the order to remove Steffes in October 2015 and was ordered to file an accounting, which Steffes filed. He was replaced by G&L Advocacy of Portage.

But Steffes still had not produced the records Guerin requested. The court ordered him to do so, but Guerin ended up subpoenaing the records straight from the bank.

After Guerin filed a report on Steffes’ conduct and Steffes filed a response, Storck found the effort had wasted Reuben S.’s assets by incurring more than $400 of unnecessary bank-account maintenance fees, failing to apply for a tax credit – which caused a loss of nearly $2,000 – and writing unexplained checks for $9,000 on Rueben S.’s account.

Storck ordered Steffes to pay $11,384.88 to the guardianship estate and $9,000 to Guerin for guardian ad litem fees. Steffes failed to make the payments, and Storck reported him to the OLR.

When the OLR attempted to investigate the matter, Steffes eventually responded but failed to discuss the alleged misconduct.

It was only after the Wisconsin Supreme Court temporarily suspended Steffes’ license for failing to cooperate with the OLR that he sent a letter stating, “It is somewhat apparent that I cannot successfully defend in this matter” and conditioned the statement on his license suspension being lifted, being granted six months to wrap up his practice and that his cooperation in the matter be noted.

The OLR responded that what Steffes wanted was not allowed by Wisconsin Supreme Court rules and that he needed to follow a certain procedure for him to consent to his license being revoked. Steffes did not respond back.

The OLR is seeking a three-year suspension of Steffes’ license and that the high court order him to pay the $11,384.88 to the guardianship estate.

Steffes could not be reached Friday through the contact information listed on the State Bar and OLR websites.

Once served, Steffes has 21 days to respond to the complaint. Typically, a referee will hold a hearing in the matter and issue a report on whether any misconduct was committed and whether any discipline is appropriate. The Wisconsin Supreme Court will review the referee’s findings and issue a final decision in the matter.

Steffes, who earned his degree from Marquette University Law School, was admitted to practice in 1970. His license has been temporarily suspended since March for not cooperating with the OLR’s investigation that led to the complaint against him.

This is not Steffes’ first encounter with the OLR. The high court publicly reprimanded him, in 2014, for letting his non-lawyer son, who had financial troubles, use his trust account for his construction business. Follow @erikastrebel