Professional Discipline
The Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility, an arm of the
Wisconsin Supreme Court, assists the court in discharging its exclusive
constitutional responsibility to supervise the practice of law in this
state and to protect the public from acts of professional misconduct by
attorneys licensed to practice in Wisconsin. The board is composed of
eight lawyers and four nonlawyer members, and its offices are located at
Room 410, 110 E. Main St., Madison, WI 53703, and Room 102, 611 N.
Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202.
Disciplinary proceeding against Gary M. May
On Jan. 27, 1998, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered the law license
of Gary M. May, 55, Madison, suspended for 60 days, commencing March 10,
1998, based on a stipulation filed by May and the Board of Attorneys
Professional Responsibility (BAPR). May stipulated that a 60-day
suspension was appropriate discipline for his repeated failure to timely
file state and federal income tax returns. May had pled no contest to
two misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to timely file individual
state income tax returns. The complaint also alleged that May had failed
to timely file state income tax returns for 13 consecutive years. As of
July 1997 May owed approximately $50,000 in unpaid taxes, interest and
penalties.
May previously consented to a 1995 private reprimand for failing to
act with reasonable diligence and promptness in an estate matter and for
failing to keep an interested party to that estate reasonably informed.
The court found that May's intentional failure to file personal income
tax returns violated a standard of conduct for lawyers established by
court decision, and therefore violated SCR 20:8.4(f). May also was
ordered to pay the costs of the proceeding within 60 days.
Public reprimand of Carl L. Meissner
On Dec. 31, 1997, Carl Meissner, 65, Marshfield, consented to a
public reprimand. The reprimand concerned a personal injury case that
Meissner undertook in 1983. His client had suffered an ear drum rupture
while attending a college class, and the school's insurer originally
offered $2,500 in settlement.
Despite several subsequent inquiries from the insurer, Meissner
failed to respond to the settlement offer. Five years later, in 1988,
Meissner discussed a potential $6,250 settlement offer with the client,
which the client agreed to accept. Meissner failed, however, to follow
through with settlement negotiations. For the next nine years, until the
client filed a grievance in 1997, Meissner led the client to believe
that he had filed a lawsuit and was actively pursuing the matter, when
in fact he had not filed suit and the statute of limitations had
expired.
BAPR concluded that Meissner neglected a client matter, violating the
former rule, SCR 20.32(3) (1984), and the current rule, SCR 20:1.3.
Meissner also violated SCR 20:8.4(c) by misrepresenting the status of
the matter to the client. In mitigation, BAPR noted that Meissner has
practiced law for 38 years with no prior discipline and was forthright
in responding to the grievance.
Summary suspension of Leslie J. Webster
On Jan. 21, 1998, the Wisconsin Supreme Court summarily suspended the
law license of Leslie J. Webster, 44, Ellsworth, based on his federal
conviction of felony concealment of assets in a bankruptcy. While the
supreme court previously had ordered his license summarily suspended,
the court stayed that suspension pending disposition of his criminal
appeal and until further order of the court. Webster's conviction was
affirmed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and he was sentenced
to 15 months' imprisonment, fined, and placed on three years' supervised
release.
Wisconsin Lawyer
