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In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Shindell12/27/2002
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST SHINDELL
Submitted on Briefs: November 14, 2002
ATTORNEY disciplinary proceeding. Attorney's license suspended.
. Attorney Anne B. Shindell appealed from the referee's report concluding that Attorney Shindell engaged in misconduct with respect to her representation of five clients. She also appealed from the referee's recommendation that her license to practice law be suspended for one year.
. We determine that the referee's findings of fact are supported by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence. We further determine that the seriousness of the misconduct warrants the suspension of Attorney Shindell's license to practice law for one year.
. Attorney Shindell was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin in 1979 and practiced in Milwaukee, specializing in employment law. In 1995 she consented to the imposition of a private reprimand for violating a statute, supreme court rule, supreme court order, or supreme court decision regulating the conduct of lawyers, as well as violating supreme court rules regarding fees, and violating the rule that requires a partner in a law firm to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the firm has in effect measures giving reasonable assurances that all lawyers in the firm conform to the Rules of Professional Conduct. On October 21, 2002, in another proceeding, this court granted the motion of the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) to summarily suspend Attorney Shindell's license based on criminal convictions for attempted theft by fraud and resisting or obstructing an officer.
. The OLR filed its complaint on October 23, 2000. Attorney Shindell filed an answer in November 2000. Attorney Stanley F. Hack was appointed as referee. Hearings were conducted before the referee between August 20, 2001, and October 9, 2001. The referee issued his report and recommendation on January 22, 2002. The referee made findings of fact based on testimony and documentary evidence presented at the hearings concerning Attorney Shindell's representation of the five clients. The referee found that in the course of representing these clients Attorney Shindell engaged in a pattern of neglect that included a failure to return unearned fees in several matters.
. The first claim of misconduct alleged in the OLR's complaint involved a client who retained Attorney Shindell in early 1994 to prosecute an employment termination and benefits dispute, including an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claim, against her former employer. Between January 1994 and early 1996 Attorney Shindell filed an initial EEOC claim and engaged in negotiations with the former employer's counsel regarding the client's retirement benefits and health insurance coverage.
. In April and May 1995 the client wrote to Attorney Shindell inquiring about the status of the case. Attorney Shindell failed to respond. In June of 1995 Attorney Shindell informed the client that she had obtained a settlement with the former employer regarding medical and retirement benefits. In August 1995 the client wrote to Attorney Shindell inquiring as to the status of the settlement papers and expressing her concern over the health insurance continuation issue. Attorney Shindell's office sent a proposed agreement to the client on September 7, 1995. The agreement did not include a reference to the special payment allowance which the client claimed to have understood to be part of the agreement based on her earlier conversations with Attorney Shindell.
. After trying unsuccessfully to contact Attorney Shindell by telephone the client wrote to Attorney Shindell on October 5, 1995, urging her to com
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