Milwaukee attorney denies misconduct allegations

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A Milwaukee attorney embroiled in a court battle with his former law firm partner is denying allegations that he mishandled millions of dollars of his former firm’s money.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a complaint on April 9 charging Robert Menard of Milwaukee-based Menard & Menard with 23 counts of alleged misconduct stemming from his handling of the trust and business accounts of his former law firm, Milwaukee-based Derzon & Menard.

Menard and his then-partner, Alan Derzon, kept their own trust-account records but Menard signed off on most of the transactions made for the firm’s trust and business accounts, according to the complaint.

From December 2012 to September 2016, Menard took at least 175 checks that were worth more than $4.6 million and were supposed to be kept in the firm’s trust account and deposited them in the firm’s business accounts, the OLR alleges.

Menard is also alleged to have mishandled settlement money the firm was supposed to be holding in trust in 10 client matters, according to the complaint. Menard would deposit the money into the firm’s trust account, withdraw it and deposit it into the firm’s business account, then withdraw money from that account to pay personal expenses, business expenses or withdraw the money and deposit it into Menard’s new law firm’s business account.

The OLR also alleges Menard failed to keep proper trust-accounting records and lied to the OLR, telling it he had hired an IT firm to re-construct those records.

The OLR is seeking the revocation of Menard’s law license and an order for Menard to pay more than $113,000 worth of restitution.

Menard responded to the charges in an answer filed May 18, denying the OLR’s allegations of misconduct and asking for the complaint to be dismissed. He is represented by Terry Johnson of von Briesen & Roper in Milwaukee.

The misconduct charges come amidst a lawsuit Derzon filed against Menard last year in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, accusing Menard of using Derzon & Menard resources to start his own firm and taking nearly $250,000 of Derzon’s retirement money, according to court records.  Johnson and his firm are also representing Menard in that case.

Menard, who has not previously been publicly disciplined by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, earned his law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1991. His license is in good standing, according to the State Bar of Wisconsin and OLR websites. Follow @erikastrebel