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High Court revokes Milwaukee attorney’s license

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//July 13, 2018//

High Court revokes Milwaukee attorney’s license

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//July 13, 2018//

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has revoked the license of a Milwaukee solo practitioner who, among other things, abandoned his practice without notifying his clients.

The disciplinary measure, handed down on Friday, stems from an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed in March. The agency alleged that James Goldmann had broken attorney-ethics rules 38 times, primarily while representing 10 clients in various civil and criminal cases.

According to the allegations, Goldmann lied to clients about filing documents in their cases and failed to tell his 10 clients that he had stopped practicing and moved to Canada, among other things.

One client sued Goldmann in Milwaukee County Circuit Court after he did no work in her parental-rights case and refused to return her file even though she had paid him $1,500. Goldmann failed to appear in court. The judge found Goldmann in default and ordered him to pay the client $1,653.

The OLR also alleged that Goldmann had approved misleading online advertising while he was an associate at the Menomonee Falls-based Sterling Law Offices in 2015.

The OLR had asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to revoke Goldmann’s license, meaning he would be indefinitely barred from practicing law but could petition the court for reinstatement after five years. The OLR also asked the court to order Goldmann to pay the $1,653 default judgment.

Goldmann did not file an answer, but he did reach a stipulation in May with the OLR in which he admitted to all the allegations in the 33-page complaint.

The Wisconsin Supreme court on Friday accepted the stipulation and revoked Goldmann’s license in a per curiam decision released on Friday.

“His transgressions leave us no choice: Attorney Goldmann has shown himself to be unwilling or unable to conform his conduct to the standards that are required to practice law in this state,” the court wrote.

Goldmann’s license revocation begins immediately.

The justices also ordered Goldmann to pay the $1,653 court judgment. At the same time, though, the court did not order Goldmann to pay any costs because Goldmann and the OLR had reached a stipulation in which they had asked the court not to appoint a referee.

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