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Vol.
70, No. 2, February 1997
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 Thomas K. Archie
On Nov. 15, 1996, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended the law license
of Thomas K. Archie, 36, St. Francis, for one year, pursuant to a stipulation
entered into between Archie and the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility
(BAPR). Archie also was ordered to pay restitution to a client and the cost
of the disciplinary proceeding. Archie previously was suspended in June
1995 for six months. Archie had not petitioned for reinstatement and remained
suspended at the time of the current disciplinary proceeding.
In 1991 Archie received a $3,300 check in settlement of a client's personal
injury claim. Archie disbursed a one-third contingency fee to himself, payment
to an ambulance service and $1,170 to the client. He retained $807 with
which to pay a medical provider bill. In 1995 the medical provider obtained
a judgment against the client, because that bill remained unpaid. Archie
was unable to account for the balance of the client's funds.
When he closed his trust account in 1994 upon terminating his law practice,
Archie assumed that any remaining funds in that account were fees and disbursed
them to himself, including the client's balance. Archie's failure to disburse
the balance of the settlement proceeds to the client violated SCR 20:1.15(b).
His retention of those funds upon closing his trust account violated SCR
20:8.4(c). Also, his failure to provide the client with a written settlement
statement upon concluding the client's matter violated SCR 20:1.5(c).
An audit of Archie's trust account disclosed that approximately $3,125
was unaccounted for regarding four cases, including the above case and two
others that were subject of his prior disciplinary proceeding. When winding
down his practice and closing his trust account, Archie wrote 12 checks
on funds in his trust account payable to himself and to others for personal
purposes. None of those checks was attributed to any particular client matter.
The audit also showed that Archie had been using his trust account as a
personal checking account, in violation of SCR 20:1.15(a), frequently depositing
settlement checks on which he wrote checks from his portion of the proceeds
to pay various personal expenses.
He also had deposited into his trust account checks for legal fees he
already had earned, and then wrote checks on those funds for personal expenses.
It was stipulated that Archie retained from the funds remaining in his trust
account $2,317, to which he was not entitled, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(c).
Additionally, Archie violated SCR 20:1.15(e) by failing to keep appropriate
trust account records.
When accepting the parties' stipulation to a one-year suspension, the
court noted that Archie's misconduct, in part, repeated similar misconduct
for which he previously was disciplined.
Public reprimand of Debra L. Hayes Colcord
On Nov. 1, 1996, Debra L. Hayes Colcord, 34, Wausau, consented to a public
reprimand by BAPR.
Colcord represented the plaintiff in a personal injury action. An attorney
for certain of the defendants deposed a person who was not a party to the
action and was not represented by counsel. As the deponent testified regarding
a prior telephone conversation with Colcord, Colcord interjected, "I
taped that call by the way." In a separate deposition conducted later
in the day, counsel for one of the defendants asked Colcord whether she
was going to voluntarily produce the tape to which she had referred during
the prior deposition, and Colcord responded, on the record, "There
is no tape." Colcord had thought that the earlier deponent was giving
untruthful testimony regarding deponent's telephone conversation with Colcord,
and Colcord believed that by representing to the deponent that their conversation
had been taped, when, in fact, it had not been taped, she might induce more
truthful deposition testimony.
BAPR concluded that Colcord violated SCR 20:4.1(a), which states, "In
the course of representing a client a lawyer shall not knowingly ... make
a false statement of a material fact or law to a third person"; and
SCR 20:8.4(c), which prohibits misrepresentation. BAPR publicly reprimanded
Colcord in 1994 for violating SCR 20:1.3, 20:3.3(a)(1) and (4), and 20:8.4(c).
Revocation of John G. Kellogg
On Nov. 15, 1996, the Wisconsin Supreme Court granted the petition of
John G. Kellogg, 56, Appleton, for revocation of his law license by consent,
effective Dec. 1, 1996.
In his petition, Kellogg stated that he could not defend against allegations
that he failed to hold client money in trust and comingled client funds
with personal funds, contrary to SCR 20:1.15(a); failed to promptly notify
clients regarding receipt of their funds and failed to promptly deliver
those funds to the clients, contrary to SCR 20:1.15(b); failed to keep complete
and accurate records of trust account funds, contrary to SCR 20:1.15(e);
provided incomplete and inaccurate trust account records for BAPR's inspection,
contrary to SCR 20:1.15(f); falsely certified on State Bar dues statements
that he had complied with trust account record-keeping requirements when
he had not, contrary to SCR 20:1.15(g); made misrepresentations to BAPR
during its investigation, contrary to SCR 22:07(2); and engaged in conduct
involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, contrary to SCR
20:8.4(c).
Disciplinary proceeding
against Katayoun Mohammad-Zadeh
Effective Dec. 27, 1996, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended the law
license of Katayoun Mohammad-Zadeh, 30, California, for 60 days.
The Wisconsin suspension is based upon the same misconduct for which
Mohammad-Zadeh previously had received a 60-day suspension from the Minnesota
Supreme Court. While practicing in Minnesota, Mohammad-Zadeh failed to pursue
immigration matters for two clients, misrepresented to them that she had
filed a petition for permanent residence, and gave them a fabricated receipt
for a filing fee purporting to show that a petition had been filed when,
in fact, it had not.
Mohammad-Zadeh stipulated that her conduct constituted a failure to
pursue the clients' matter with reasonable diligence, contrary to SCR 20:1.3;
and misrepresentation, contrary to SCR 20:4.1(a) and SCR 20:8.4(c). |