Referee: Attorney should be suspended for 15 months

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A referee is recommending that an Appleton lawyer be suspended for a longer period than what lawyer-regulators had sought.

The referee’s recommendation stems from an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed last year against Ryan Thompson, alleging 16 counts of misconduct involving his representation of two litigants and a company out of Little Chute.

Thompson was alleged to have, among other things, failed to refund unearned fees, lied to the OLR and practiced law even though his license had been suspended for failing to cooperate with an OLR investigation.

In his response to the agency’s allegations, Thompson admitted to most of the allegations and contended that his license should be suspended for 6 months and imposed retroactively from the time he was terminated from his general counsel role for concealing that his license had been suspended.

Lawyers who are suspended for longer than 6 months must, during a hearing, offer up evidence that they are fit to be reinstated to practice.

Thompson, who is representing himself, reached a stipulation with the OLR at the beginning of the hearing at which Thompson had agreed to the yearlong suspension. The OLR, in turn, agreed that no further restitution was owed to one of the clients, noting that it had already been paid.

However, the referee in the case, James Mohr, recommended on Monday that the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspend Thompson’s license for 15 months, three months more than what the parties had agreed to.

Mohr noted Thompson hadn’t shown up for the hearing in the disciplinary case, although he had listened in.

Mohr said he was most troubled both by Thompson’s failure to obey a high-court order suspending his license and by his then lying to the OLR when the agency attempted to investigate it.

Thompson continued to practice law and put himself out to the public as a lawyer by continuing to work as general counsel for Little Chute-based Heartland Business Systems, which had fired Thompson after discovering that the high court had suspended his license. When the OLR inquired about the situation, Thompson lied, saying that his title had changed and that he had told the firm’s president and vice president about the suspension.

“This conduct reflects an attitude to clients and an employer in representing their interests and accounting for their money,” Mohr wrote. “However, the more troubling aspect is Thompson’s willingness to engage in willful deceit, not only toward his employer but to the investigative arm of the Supreme Court, as well as blatantly ignoring an order of the Supreme Court’s order to suspend his practice.”

Thompson may choose to appeal Mohr’s recommendation. Regardless of whether he challenges Mohr’s findings, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will review them and issue a final decision in the matter. Follow @erikastrebel