Last month Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz avoided his official removal from office by four days by resigning. This was because Gov. Jim Doyle was finally publicly pressured to turn against him by stations like ABC who asked, “What is going on in the Wisconsin Department of Justice”? once the Associated Press made public the issues surrounding Kratz’s 2009 misdeeds.

Kratz had gotten away with sending 30 text messages of a sexual nature (e.g. “Are you the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA … the riskier the better”?) to his client Stephanie Van Groll, who was half his age.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice didn’t act on Van Groll’s complaint after having received a letter from Kratz stating he was just complimenting her. Only after the Associated Press released the texts this past September had the issue resurfaced – and with some vengeance this time.

Two other women came forward with claims similar to those of Van Groll. As a consequence, the Office of Lawyer Regulation was scrutinized.

And for good reason.

The OLR was established to keep lawyers in this state in check. Yet, the people who keep these lawyers in check are primarily lawyers themselves (read: golf buddies). The Preliminary Review Committee of the OLR, for instance, consists of 14 members – nine lawyers and five public members appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This is certainly not a balanced system of regulation.

Moreover, the OLR only makes grievances against lawyers public once they have been deemed with enough merit. What this actually means is that it’s all in the subjective hands of the golf buddies. These grievances “of merit” are issued just once a year, in the OLR fiscal year report.

On the OLR website, it is stated that “it may take as long as one to two years” to investigate a filed grievance. At the rate Kratz was going (30 text messages in three days), a lawyer could harass numerous clients in that time. This is not a sufficient system of regulating our law system.

I would like to think that under the law, under the system established by our government, I would feel safe. If these kinds of things are going under the radar, I cannot say I am currently confident in the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

As other local publications have pointed out, public records are available for plumbers, doctors and real estate agents – but not lawyers. There’s no reason for why lawyers should be an exception to the rule. There’s no reason for why the public should be less trusted with respect to filing complaints against lawyers.

It appears as if the agents who are closest to the law have established a force shield behind their own system to protect their so-called reputation. It sickens me to think that Kratz and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen were probably high-fiving each other on the golf course.

Sure, there might be the occasional client who maliciously cries wolf. But I would rather have a person who makes a $100K salary have a couple bite marks on their record than a physically abused woman be further harassed by the person she turns to for help.

Victoria Yakovleva ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in chemical engineering.