Referee: Appleton attorney should pay for disciplinary proceeding

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A referee is recommending that an Appleton attorney pay for the all the costs the OLR spent pursuing his disciplinary case.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation had charged Alan Stewart with three counts of misconduct earlier this year, including filing patent applications while his license was suspended and failing to respond to the agency’s inquiries about the matter.

The OLR is seeking a 60-day suspension of Stewart’s license, a disciplinary step that would be tacked onto the end of the 9-month suspension the justices had imposed on Stewart in April for refusing to refund thousands of dollars in fees he had never earned.

Stewart never answered the complaint but later appeared at a scheduling conference to ask for permission to discuss what disciplinary measures would be appropriate.

He later admitted to the three counts of misconduct but asked for the license suspension to be concurrent, rather than consecutive to, his nine-month suspension, which expires in January.

In September, the referee in the case, John Murphy, found that Stewart had committed all three counts of misconduct and agreed that the 60-day suspension should be concurrent with the 9-month suspension.

The OLR filed documents on Oct. 11 outlining the full cost for the proceeding so far, $805.85, which it recommended Stewart pay in full.

Murphy filed a recommendation on Friday stating that Stewart should pay the amount OLR had outlined.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will review Murphy’s findings on both costs and discipline and issue a final decision in the matter. Follow @erikastrebel