A former state Senator convicted in a federal kickback fraud case won his law license back under a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision Thursday.

The court majority sided with Gary George over the previous decision of a court-appointed referee, who had opposed giving George his law license back.

George, a Democrat who represented parts of Milwaukee in the Senate for 23 years, was stripped of his license to practice law in 2004 when he pled guilty to taking approximately $270,000 in illegal kickbacks. The court punished George with four years in federal prison and more than $568,000 in fines – later reduced to about $327,000 after an appeal from George.

According to court records, George first applied for license reinstatement in June 2008, but a court referee filed a recommendation against giving George’s license back. George then appealed the matter to the state Supreme Court.

The reasons behind the referee’s denial in 2009 included the fact George was paid for legal consulting work while still under federal supervision at the time but did not tell the court nor did he feel he had acted wrongly.

The Supreme Court overruled the referee’s concerns, stating in their decision that George was professionally disciplined and criminally prosecuted, and he met the criteria for license reinstatement.

“Indeed, Attorney George’s approach to this entire reinstatement proceeding has made it a more difficult and time-consuming inquiry than it might otherwise have been,” the court decision said. “(But) there is nothing in the Supreme Court rules that requires [George] to acknowledge the wrongfulness of his actions before reinstatement.”

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, said he agrees with the Supreme Court’s decision, as George was convicted and paid his debt to society.

“In our criminal justice system, when you pay your dues you’re entitled to come back into society,” Heck said. “I couldn’t see any reason to deny George a second chance.”

Not everyone believes the second chance rule applies to George, however.

While Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Mike McCabe agrees people who serve a sentence deserve to move on with their lives, he said lawyers should be held to a different standard.

“With lawyers, there is a real significant issue of public trust,” McCabe said. “Crimes committed of a public nature (like fraud and kickbacks) especially do raise the question of ones’ fitness to carry on law.”

McCabe also blasted the ability of lawyers to regulate the conduct of their colleagues, citing the recent controversy surrounding Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz and how the Office of Lawyer Regulation initially failed to discipline Kratz.

Kratz, who is now resigning, came under fire following an incident involving sexual text messages he sent to a domestic abuse victim while he was prosecuting her boyfriend for strangling her.

OLR reopened the Kratz case following pressure from numerous groups and state agencies, including Gov. Jim Doyle.

“The biggest concern is the system for disciplining and reviewing lawyers is shown to be lacking,” McCabe said. “Wisconsin needs to take a whole new look at how we handle attorney discipline.”