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).
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