Referee: Walworth County lawyer should pay back client’s heirs

Listen to this article

A referee is recommending that a lawyer from East Troy not only be suspended for improperly benefiting from a will she drafted for a client, but also that she pay back the thousands of dollars she had received upon that client’s death.

Lawyer-regulators charged Linda Gray of Oleniczak & Gray in June with one count of misconduct. According to the complaint, Gray drafted and executed a will in 2013 for a woman in New Berlin, to whom Gray was not related. The will bequeathed the balance of the estate to Gray, although the woman was survived by two siblings, three nieces and a nephew. Upon the woman’s death in January 2015, Gray received $298,742.12.

State Supreme Court rules prohibit lawyers from significantly benefiting from wills they draft for their clients, except under certain circumstances, such as when a client is a relative.

In its complaint, the Office of Lawyer Regulation had asked that Gray’s license be suspended for 60 days.

In September, the agency and Gray reached a stipulation in which Gray pleaded no contest to the count of misconduct and admitted to the facts in the complaint. They also agreed on the license suspension the OLR had sought.

The referee in the case, Jonathan Goodman, in a report filed on Oct. 4, accepted the stipulation and recommended that Gray pay the full cost of the proceeding. However, in addition to the 60-day suspension, Goodman recommended that Gray reimburse the woman’s heirs the $298,742.12 she had received.

Gray may choose to appeal Goodman’s decision. Whatever she decides, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will review Goodman’s recommendations and issue a final decision in the matter.

Gray is represented by the Madison attorney Saul Glazer of Axley Brynelson, and the OLR is represented by its assistant litigation counsel, Jonathan Hendrix.

Gray, who graduated from Northern Illinois University College of Law in 1982, has never been disciplined by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Follow @erikastrebel