Milwaukee lawyer faced with suspension for fabricating motion, disappearing

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A Milwaukee lawyer is faced with a 60-day license suspension for fabricating a motion and disappearing on his clients. According to an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint, Willem J. Noorlander began committing various violations in 2015.

The complaint states Noorlander represented a company named Construction Quality Alliance Partners in a civil suit in Racine County against the transportation company Farren International. In October 2015, the court issued an order calling for the case to be dismissed in 20 days unless good cause could be shown as to why the order shouldn’t be entered.

The OLR said Noorlander didn’t respond to the order, and the court dismissed it in December 2015. The complaint said Noorlander, rather than telling Construction Quality Alliance Partners the truth about the dismissal, instead claimed he had obtained a judgment against Farren. Two years later, Noorlander said Farren had filed a motion seeking to vacate the fabricated judgment. In an attempt to provide evidence in support of his claim, he gave Construction Quality Alliance Partners a fake document.

In 2016, Noorlander’s firm assigned him to represent a client in a breach-of-contract and replevin case. For the first few months of his representation, Noorlander performed steady work for the client and was responsive to requests, according to the OLR. But starting in June 2017, he began taking months to reply to his client and, in some cases, neglected to respond at all. The client filed a grievance against Noorlander in March 2018. Noorlander did not respond.

After several attempts to get in touch with Noorlander, including by serving him documents in Waukesha, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin issued an order in August 2018 requiring him to show cause as to why his license shouldn’t be suspended. An attorney representing Noorlander responded months later with the needed information.

The OLR charged Noorlander with five counts related to the fabricated motion to vacate and his failure to keep his breach-of-contract and replevin client informed. Noorlander is faced with a 60-day license suspension for the violations.