Friday, February 4, 2011

Wisconsin: Convicted Attorneys Are Still Practicing

Some even have kept their licenses while serving time for their crimes

At least 135 attorneys with criminal convictions are practicing law today in Wisconsin - including some who kept their licenses while serving time and others who got them back before they were off probation, a Journal Sentinel investigation has found.

The roster includes lawyers with felony or misdemeanor convictions for fraud, theft, battery and repeat drunken driving, as well as offenses involving political corruption, drugs and sex. A child-sex offender got probation for his crime but never lost his law license. A politician convicted in a check-kiting scheme was reprimanded but also kept his license.

Another 70 lawyers were charged with crimes but succeeded in having the charges reduced or avoided conviction by completing a deferred prosecution plan. All were given the green light to practice law.

The newspaper's review, which ran nearly 24,000 Wisconsin lawyers against state and federal court records, found that lawyers who are convicted of crimes are then subjected to a slow-moving disciplinary system that operates largely behind closed doors.

Wisconsin appears to be comparatively lenient in dealing with lawbreaking lawyers.

Full Article and Source:
Convicted Attorneys Are Still Practicing

See Also:
A Dozen Lawyers Who Broke the Law

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shocking!

Auddie said...

Wow, this article really makes me think about lawyers in general. How do we know our lawyer isn't one of these? Very scary.

Anonymous said...

Stay the hell out of Wisconsin!

Penny said...

For crying out loud, isn't anybody watching?

helensniece said...

‎"The system is run by lawyers and is for lawyers," said Michael Frisch, a national expert in legal discipline who teaches law at Georgetown University. "It's called self-regulation, and it's a pretty good system for lawyers."

And where do you suppose the lawyers put their campaign contributions?

I wonder if the Justices would agree to spread this outrageous protection and in your face favoritism by having prisoners run the WI prison system, including the parole board?

I pity anyone who is looking for an honest lawyer in the entire state of Wisconsin.

I have a referral, from personal expereince, in the Madison area if anyone needs an honest hardworking lawyer you can contact me at: helensniece@yahoo.com.

Rick said...

You've got to be kidding me? They kept their licenses while serving time? Oh my gosh!

Mark said...

You've got that right Anon 2. Wisconsin sounds like legal quicksand.

Connie said...

Why isn't the bar following through and taking these creeps' licenses? It only reflects badly on the them for not following through?

The State of Wisconsin should be reimbursing all clients of these "lawyers."

jerri said...

this should scare the pants off of everybody in the state of wisconsin and anybody who lives out of state who needs to ratain a wi lawyer and whats even scarier and alarming is how many lawyers had complaints against them that went unreported and all those piles of complaints that were dismissed?

Jane said...

My question is who are the judges that are dismissing these crimes ?

Why is the Wisc. Governor, Attorney General, the Supreme Court and the Wisc. Representatives Not putting a Stop to these crimes and offenses ?

Since our own Courts and State Officials are not protecting their citizens, "OFFICIALS" in Washington D.C. need to send the Military in All the States this is happening in, set up their own Military Courts to make sure these crooks are put behind bars to never hurt innocent victims again.

Why are the Courts and State Officials looking the other way and allowing this abusive destruction on innocent lives ?...oh I see, because it's not happening to them ! Don't worry these thugs will eventually get around to you too.
It's time to bring the Marines in.
Our State Officials and Courts are failing the people that voted them in.

Anonymous said...

The reason they get away with thieving is that THEY run the discipline agency.

If it were run by nonlawyers, they would be stripped of their law licenses - forever - when they are convicted.

And if they aren't convicted, it's because judges and law enforcement people are all card-carrying lawyers!