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In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Reitz4/14/2005
ATTORNEY disciplinary proceeding. Attorney's license suspended.
Attorney Jeffrey A. Reitz (hereafter Reitz or respondent) has appealed from the referee's report including findings of fact and conclusions of law filed in this court on June 14, 2004. After a public hearing, the referee, Rose Marie Baron, determined that the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) had presented clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence to establish all 13 counts of professional misconduct arising from Reitz's representation of six different clients as alleged in a complaint OLR filed in this court against Reitz on September 24, 2003. The referee recommended that Reitz's license to practice law in this state be suspended for six months for this professional misconduct and that he pay the costs of this proceeding now totaling $7735.62.
Reitz's appeal challenged the referee's findings with regard to only four of the counts relating to three clients; then at oral argument before this court, Reitz conceded one of those counts. Consequently, he now challenges the referee's findings and conclusions with respect to only three of the misconduct counts. However, Reitz also challenges the referee's recommendation that his license to practice law should be suspended for a period of six months. Reitz contends that a more appropriate sanction would be a license suspension for a period of two to four months.
The referee's findings of fact are to be affirmed unless they are clearly erroneous. In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sosnay, 209 Wis. 2d 241, 243, 562 N.W.2d 137 (1997). However, no deference is granted to the referee's conclusions of law which we review de novo. In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Carroll, 2001 WI 130, , 248 Wis. 2d 662, 636 N.W.2d 718. After our review of the record in this matter, we conclude that the referee's findings of fact are not clearly erroneous; accordingly we affirm and adopt them. However, we disagree with the referee's legal conclusion that Reitz's conduct as alleged in Count II of the complaint amounted to a violation of a rule of conduct for lawyers. Therefore, we adopt the referee's findings of fact and all of her conclusions of law except for Count II. And we determine that an appropriate sanction for his 12 counts of misconduct is a suspension of Reitz's license to practice in this state for a period of five months. But we agree with the referee's recommendation that Reitz be required to pay all the costs of these disciplinary proceedings.
Jeffrey A. Reitz was admitted to practice law in this state in 1981 and currently practices in Milwaukee. He has never before been the subject of a disciplinary action.
The six separate client matters which gave rise to the 13 counts of misconduct as alleged by the OLR in its complaint will be briefly summarized and discussed.
CLIENT N.C.----COUNTS I, II AND III
In March 1998, N.C. retained Attorney Michael D. Mandelman to represent her in a legal malpractice action against the attorney who had previously represented her in a child custody proceeding. In June 1998, Mandelman filed a lawsuit against that attorney in Walworth County circuit court.
On March 1, 1999, Mandelman and Reitz formed a law partnership, Reitz & Mandelman, LLC. Reitz had extensive experience preparing cases for trial but had limited trial experience; consequently, his role in the new firm was to prepare cases for trial and Mandelman was to handle settlement negotiations, depositions, and trials.
On March 22, 1999, N.C. wrote to Mandelman seeking information about the status of her malpractice action. N.C. noted that she had not heard from Mandelman and wr
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