Attorney who threatened violence against OLR investigator, client loses law license for 4 years

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A Green Bay attorney who threatened violence against an OLR investigator and a client lost his law license for four years.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended the law license of Cole J. White, a solo practitioner at White Law Offices in Green Bay, starting on Nov. 30 after he had failed to present a defense to a 44-count complaint filed by the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

The June 2019 complaint accused White of taking clients’ money but not working on their cases, threatening and lying to clients and OLR staff, trust-account violations and more.

The court’s Nov. 30 opinion said in one instance, White had sent his lawyer, Jevon Jaconi, an email about three grievance investigations by the OLR. In it White said, “I plan on doing nothing until (OLR investigator) is lying in her own blood. Please feel free to tell her, I am this close to becoming violent.”

White also made threats to a client on Instagram, according to the opinion, after White allegedly used the client’s money to buy a camper without consent. In another client-grievance investigation, White told the OLR that he had limited recollection of any matters from June 2017 through the summer of 2018 because of his mental-health treatment.

Jaconi filed a one-page response to the OLR’s complaint in July 2019. But, according to the court’s opinion, White didn’t participate in any of the proceedings after that.

A month later, the state Supreme Court suspended White’s law license for nearly two dozen counts of misconduct stemming from a 2017 OLR complaint. At a hearing for the latter complaint, Jaconi said White had “essentially disappeared” and hadn’t been heard from since his law-license suspension went into effect in October. Jaconi said there were several rumors about White’s whereabouts, including that he had gone to California and that he had committed suicide, but there was no indication that that was true.

The referee said White’s attitude and statements cited in the OLR complaint were stunning and showed a “degree of disrespect for clients and for the system that I’ve never encountered.” The referee found White responsible for all 44 counts of misconduct and agreed with the OLR’s proposed two-year license suspension. The referee also recommended White pay restitution to several clients and the full costs of the proceeding.

The state Supreme Court, however, didn’t think two years was an adequate punishment. The justices noted that White started his solo practice shortly after graduating law school in 2013 and “almost immediately got himself into trouble due to his apparent distain for doing the necessary research or work to perform as a capable advocate for his clients.”

The opinion said White failed to present a defense, despite being given many opportunities to do so. The court declared him to be in default and found the “egregiousness and extent” of his misconduct warranted a four-year suspension of his law license.

“He showed an utter lack of regard for his clients, and when called to account for his actions he lashed out at both the clients and the OLR investigators with profane comments and threats of physical violence,” the opinion said.

The high court ordered White to pay $30,240 in restitution to nine clients and $2,514.74 in costs of the proceeding.

White’s law license remains administratively suspended for failing to pay state bar dues and failing to provide a trust-account certification, according to records from the State Bar of Wisconsin.

White did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment. Follow @WLJReporter