High court suspends Madison lawyer

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended the license of a Madison eminent-domain lawyer who a referee said used his trust account “akin to a slush fund.”

The discipline stems from a complaint filed more than a year ago by the Office of Lawyer Regulation charging Michael Bauer with 28 counts of misconduct. The agency alleges that Bauer had mishandled more than $700,000 that he should have been holding in his trust account while he was working at Madison-based Bauer & Bach, which dissolved in 2015.

The OLR had sought a three-year license suspension for Bauer, who works for Bauer Law Office in Madison.

However, the OLR and Bauer reached a stipulation last year in which Bauer admitted to 14 counts of misconduct and the OLR agreed to dismiss seven charges. Bauer contested seven of the remaining charges, all of which involved allegations that Bauer had broken a rule prohibiting lawyers from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. He also contended that his license should be suspended for only 60 days. The OLR contended that a two-year license suspension was appropriate.

The referee in the case, John Murphy, recommended that Bauer’s license be suspended for a year. He also found that Bauer had committed 19 of the remaining charges of misconduct.

Bauer challenged Murphy’s decision but later backed down, filing a notice of voluntary dismissal last month, days before oral argument had been scheduled.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court last week adopted Murphy’s recommendations. Bauer’s license suspension begins June 27. The court also ordered Bauer to pay for the disciplinary proceeding, which cost $15,727.40 as of April 25. Follow @erikastrebel