Imagine if a man convicted of robbing a bank was now working at the local UW Credit Union.
Such a situation would definitely take me aback. How could an employer possibly have any confidence in a worker who has such a questionable past? Who would want to keep their money in that bank? A bank would obviously not hire an employee if there was reasonable concern that he or she was a threat to security.
But according to a special report by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, there are at least 135 people with criminal records working in a field where the law is paramount – as attorneys.
Through extensive background research of almost 24,000 individuals, the reporters found 135 people practicing law who had been convicted of various felonies and misdemeanors, including fraud, theft and political corruption. Some of these individuals even managed to keep their law license during their own criminal proceedings.
One of the more prominent cases related to this report involves disgraced former state Senator Gary George, who was stripped of his law license in 2004 after he was convicted of taking around $270,000 in illegal kickbacks while in office.
After an appeal to the state Supreme Court, George won back his law license in September of last year, but not without the court reprimanding George’s behavior in their decision.
“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.”
These additional comments stem from George’s first attempt to win back his license; he had been denied because he was being paid for legal consulting work while on probation and without telling the court of his activities.
Mike McCabe, executive director of the watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, previously told The Badger Herald that lawyers convicted of certain crimes have a significant impact on public trust.
“Crimes committed of a public nature (like fraud and kickbacks) especially do raise the question of one’s fitness to carry on law,” McCabe said.
I agree. To practice the law is entirely dependent on whether or not a client can trust their defender. And honestly, how many people would hire a lawyer that was convicted of tax evasion or battery?
Now, I know that our legal system is based on the idea that once a person is punished for their wrongdoings, he or she is entitled to a second chance. I believe that to be the right thing in many cases, but there are some circumstances that demand stricter standards.
In this state, it is largely left up to lawyers to regulate each other’s actions and determine the necessary sanctions. That entity is called the Office of Lawyer Regulation, and it is run by the state Supreme Court.
Some may remember this office came under file for its apparent lack of action in the matter of Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, who sent inappropriate sexual text messages to a woman he was representing. The office basically ignored the matter at first, but after pressure came from outside groups and state officials like former Gov. Jim Doyle, the OLR finally agreed to look into the case.
The fact that the OLR needed an outside push to actually examine the conduct of Kratz shows that either the OLR needs to step up its standards, or the state needs a new system to regulate its attorneys and give appropriate punishment. After all, the clients’ finances and at times their very livelihood are a lawyer’s responsibility. Those are things too precious to leave in the hands of an attorney convicted of defrauding other clients.
Alicia Yager ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and French.
