High court shortens Milwaukee lawyer’s license suspension

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended a Milwaukee attorney on Thursday for two months, declining to adopt a referee’s recommendation for a year-long license suspension.

Thursday’s disciplinary action stems from charges filed in 2016 by the Office of Lawyer Regulation alleging James Toran had committed three counts of misconduct while representing an inmate and had asked the court to suspend Toran’s license for 60 days.

According to the charges, Toran failed to provide his client with a written agreement, failed to hold advance fees in trust and failed to return advanced fees when he knew he would not be completing the work.

After a hearing in September, the OLR and Toran reached a stipulation, agreeing to certain facts, and Toran pleaded no contest to the charges.

The referee, retired Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge John Fiorenza, recommended that Toran pay $500 in restitution to the client. He also recommended that, given Toran’s disciplinary history, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspend Toran’s license for one year.

Toran, represented by his friend, Milwaukee attorney Michael Chernin, filed his challenge of Fiorenza’s recommendations last year, contending that a public reprimand, not a license suspension, was the proper sanction for his conduct. He argued his disciplinary history happened long enough ago that it should not be held against him.

The OLR, represented by the retained counsel Gregg Herman, agreed that the year-long suspension was too long and stuck with its recommendation of a 60-day suspension, contending that some length of suspension should be imposed because of Toran’s disciplinary history and the court’s policy of progressive discipline.

Toran was publicly reprimanded in 1987, privately reprimanded in 2007 and his license was suspended for six months in 1989. He was most recently disciplined in 2012, when the court publicly reprimanded him for failing to provide written fee agreements to clients, for failing to respond to a client’s requests for discovery materials and for lying to the OLR about visiting in a client in jail.

“Even if we were to discount Attorney Toran’s early disciplinary history, the facts giving rise to his 2012 public reprimand indicate this misconduct was not an isolated or unique occurrence,” the court wrote. “As such, progressive discipline tips the balance in favor of license suspension. The question is how long?”

The court held on Thursday that the year-long suspension was too long, noting that it would require Toran to petition for reinstatement.

The court instead imposed a 60-day license suspension, arguing that was the shortest license suspension it could impose and that it would be enough to protect the public, deter similar misconduct and impress upon Toran the seriousness of his misconduct.

The justices also ordered Toran to pay $500 worth of restitution to a former client, as recommended by Fiorenza. Follow @erikastrebel