2018 WI 94
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN
CASE NO.: 2016AP1897-D
COMPLETE TITLE: In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings
Against Thad W. Jelinske, Attorney at Law:
Office of Lawyer Regulation,
Complainant,
v.
Thad W. Jelinske,
Respondent.
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST JELINSKE
OPINION FILED: September 12, 2018
SUBMITTED ON BRIEFS:
ORAL ARGUMENT:
SOURCE OF APPEAL:
COURT:
COUNTY:
JUDGE:
JUSTICES:
CONCURRED:
DISSENTED:
NOT PARTICIPATING:
ATTORNEYS:
2018 WI 94
NOTICE
This opinion is subject to further
editing and modification. The final
version will appear in the bound
volume of the official reports.
No. 2016AP1897-D
STATE OF WISCONSIN : IN SUPREME COURT
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings
Against Thad W. Jelinske, Attorney at Law:
Office of Lawyer Regulation, FILED
Complainant,
SEP 12, 2018
v.
Sheila T. Reiff
Clerk of Supreme Court
Thad W. Jelinske,
Respondent.
ATTORNEY disciplinary proceeding. Attorney's license
suspended.
¶1 PER CURIAM. We review the report and recommendation
of Referee Jonathan V. Goodman, which approves a stipulation
between Attorney Thad W. Jelinske and the Office of Lawyer
Regulation (OLR) by which Attorney Jelinske pled no contest to
15 of the 23 allegations of misconduct in the OLR's complaint.
Consistent with the parties' stipulation, the referee
recommended that this court suspend Attorney Jelinske's
Wisconsin law license for 18 months, retroactive to October 16,
No. 2016AP1897-D
2017. The referee further recommended that Attorney Jelinske be
assessed the full costs of the proceeding, which are $13,032.92
as of August 13, 2018. The OLR does not seek the payment of
restitution.
¶2 Because no appeal has been filed, we review this
matter pursuant to SCR 22.17(2)1. We agree with the parties'
stipulation and the referee's determination that the allegations
of the disciplinary complaint and the information contained
within the over two-dozen exhibits to the parties' stipulation
provide an adequate factual basis for Attorney Jelinske's no
contest pleas. We also agree with the referee's determination
that Attorney Jelinske engaged in numerous forms of professional
misconduct, and that the seriousness of this misconduct warrants
an 18-month suspension of his law license. We part ways with
the referee in holding that, under the circumstances present
here, the suspension of Attorney Jelinske's law license should
not be backdated to October 16, 2017, but rather should be made
effective as of the date of this decision. We impose full
costs. No restitution was sought and none is ordered.
1
SCR 22.17(2) provides:
If no appeal is filed timely, the supreme court
shall review the referee's report; adopt, reject or
modify the referee's findings and conclusions or
remand the matter to the referee for additional
findings; and determine and impose appropriate
discipline. The court, on its own motion, may order
the parties to file briefs in the matter.
2
No. 2016AP1897-D
¶3 The OLR complaint alleged, and the referee found based
on the parties' stipulation,2 the following facts.
¶4 Attorney Jelinske was admitted to practice law in
Wisconsin in 1986. At all relevant times, he was a partner and
head of the commercial litigation department at a law firm in
Milwaukee. He has no disciplinary history.
¶5 In July 2001, Attorney Jelinske's firm prepared a
revocable trust and pour-over will for R.S.M., who had been a
client of the firm for many years.
¶6 R.S.M. died on August 1, 2011. R.S.M.'s will named
Attorney Jelinske as the personal representative of the estate
and successor trustee, and named Attorney Jelinske's law partner
as an alternative personal representative and trustee.
¶7 Attorney Jelinske commenced informal probate
proceedings in Waukesha County Circuit Court, despite having no
experience in probating estates. The court appointed Attorney
Jelinske as the personal representative of the estate, and the
will was admitted to probate.
¶8 The estate was insolvent. R.S.M. died owing over
$3,000,000 to one particular bank alone.
¶9 During the probate proceedings, Attorney Jelinske
wrote checks from the estate account for personal expenditures
for such things as shoes, shoe repairs, clothing, and credit
card expenses.
2
See n.3, infra.
3
No. 2016AP1897-D
¶10 During the probate proceedings, Attorney Jelinske and
the firm arranged for the firm to loan the estate $238,755.43 in
order to pay off a mortgage on R.S.M.'s home, as the mortgage
was in danger of foreclosure. Attorney Jelinske, on behalf of
the estate, executed a promissory note in favor of the firm with
an interest rate of eight percent. The terms of the note
included a "success fee" to the firm of one-third of the net
proceeds from the sale of the home. Attorney Jelinske arranged
for the sale of the home for $395,000. From the proceeds,
Attorney Jelinske repaid the firm the amount of the loan, plus a
$42,173.22 "success fee," plus $1,117.42 in accrued interest,
leaving net proceeds to the estate of $84,348.44. Attorney
Jelinske did not obtain approval from the court for the
transactions involving the home.
¶11 R.S.M.'s estate included an interest in a hair salon.
The salon was in default on a commercial lease. Attorney
Jelinske arranged for a sale of the salon. He double-billed the
estate in the amount of $4,700 for legal services related to
this sale. He also converted to his own use $834.61 of funds
from an estate bank account that he had created to manage
payments to R.S.M.'s business interests, including the salon.
This misappropriation created a negative balance in the estate
account and triggered a non-sufficient funds fee, which he
covered by transferring funds from another account associated
with R.S.M.'s estate.
¶12 Attorney Jelinske also converted to his own use two
payments——$573.61 and $1,565.52——from two separate life
4
No. 2016AP1897-D
insurance policies held by R.S.M. Attorney Jelinske deposited
the $573.61 insurance check into the estate account and, using a
counter check which he endorsed as the personal representative,
withdrew that same amount in cash. Attorney Jelinske endorsed
the $1,565.52 insurance check as the personal representative and
deposited the funds directly into his own checking account.
Attorney Jelinske did not maintain complete and accurate records
regarding these disbursements.
¶13 Contrary to Wis. Stat. § 857.05(3) (2013-14),3 Attorney
Jelinske billed R.S.M.'s estate for both personal representative
fees and attorney fees even though R.S.M.'s will did not
authorize dual fees. By September 2013, Attorney Jelinske had
billed the estate approximately $167,463 in legal fees. After
payment to Attorney Jelinske and the firm for legal fees, only
$174,885.58 remained available to distribute to creditors.
3
All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2013-
14 version unless otherwise noted.
Wis. Stat. § 857.05(3) provides:
ATTORNEY FEES AND COMMISSIONS. If the personal
representative or any law firm with which the personal
representative is associated also serves as attorney
for the decedent's estate, the court may allow him or
her either executor's commissions, (including sums for
any extraordinary services as set forth in sub. (2))
or attorney fees. The court may allow both executor's
commissions and attorney fees, and shall allow both if
the will of the decedent authorizes the payments to be
made.
5
No. 2016AP1897-D
¶14 In October 2013, Attorney Jelinske filed an inventory
in the probate proceedings that contained several
misrepresentations. The inventory did not accurately account
for the life insurance funds that he had converted to his own
use; it omitted the net proceeds from the sale of the hair
salon; and it failed to disclose that he had double-billed the
estate for his work regarding the sale of the salon.
¶15 In June 2014, Attorney Jelinske filed an estate
account in the probate proceedings that contained several
misrepresentations. He classified as "personal representative
fees" the $834.61 amount that he had converted from the estate
bank account used to manage payments to R.S.M.'s business
interests. He similarly classified as "personal representative
fees" the $1,565.52 distribution from R.S.M.'s life insurance
policy that he deposited directly into his own checking account.
Attorney Jelinske also omitted the fact that he had double-
billed the estate for his work in handling the hair salon sale.
¶16 The main creditor bank of the estate eventually began
litigation against Attorney Jelinske and his law firm. At a
deposition, Attorney Jelinske falsely denied that certain checks
he wrote from the estate account were for personal expenses. He
also falsely denied knowing about both the existence of the
estate bank account that he had created to manage payments to
R.S.M.'s business interests, and the purpose of the fund
transfer that he made to cover the negative balance in that
account caused by his misappropriation of funds.
6
No. 2016AP1897-D
¶17 During an ensuing trial to the circuit court, Attorney
Jelinske falsely testified about the nature of certain
expenditures he made from estate funds. He also claimed that he
did not recall seeing the distribution check from R.S.M.'s life
insurance policy that he had deposited into his own checking
account.
¶18 At the conclusion of the trial, the court removed
Attorney Jelinske as personal representative and found that he
had violated his fiduciary obligation to the estate by
converting estate assets to his own use and by arranging for the
roughly $42,000 "success fee" in connection with his law firm's
sale of R.S.M.'s home.
¶19 After the trial, the parties litigated the creditor
bank's entitlement to attorney's fees and costs. According to a
hearing transcript attached to the parties' stipulation,4 the
circuit court described R.S.M.'s estate as having become "mired
in a morass of self-dealing ethical lapses" and "conduct
amounting to conversion." The circuit court found that Attorney
Jelinske "was not truthful in portions of his testimony," and
that he made a "continued effort to evade responsibility." The
circuit court described Attorney Jelinske's conduct throughout
the administration of the estate and the subsequent trial as
4
We read the referee's report, which approves the parties'
stipulation, as having implicitly incorporated the information
contained in the exhibits that the parties attached to the
stipulation to help serve as the factual basis for Attorney
Jelinske's no contest pleas.
7
No. 2016AP1897-D
"shocking" and "reek[ing] of bad faith" and "delinquent
dishonesty." In a subsequent written order, also attached to
the parties' stipulation, the circuit court wrote that Attorney
Jelinske "engaged in shocking bad faith conduct including
obstruction of discovery, deliberate misrepresentation, self[-]
dealing, unethical conduct, conversion, false statements[,] and
less than truthful statements to the Court."
¶20 During the ensuing OLR investigation against Attorney
Jelinske, Attorney Jelinske made various misrepresentations to
the OLR.
¶21 The parties stipulated and the referee concluded that
Attorney Jelinske's conduct, described above, amounted to the
following forms of professional misconduct:
By paying personal expenses out of fiduciary funds and
failing to keep all of the estate funds in trust,
Attorney Jelinske violated former SCR 20:1.15(j)(l)5
(Count 1).
5
Effective July 1, 2016, substantial changes were made to
Supreme Court Rule 20:1.15, the "trust account rule." See S. Ct.
Order 14-07, (issued Apr. 4, 2016, eff. July 1, 2016). Because
the conduct underlying this case arose prior to July 1, 2016,
unless otherwise indicated, all references to the supreme court
rules will be to those in effect prior to July 1, 2016.
Former SCR 20:1.15(j)(1) provided:
A lawyer shall hold in trust, separate from the
lawyer's own funds or property, those funds or that
property of clients or 3rd parties that are in the
lawyer's possession when acting in a fiduciary
capacity that directly arises in the course of, or as
(continued)
8
No. 2016AP1897-D
By, on behalf of the estate, entering into a loan
agreement with his law firm that was a prohibited
transaction under Wis. Stat. § 860.13,6 Attorney
Jelinske violated SCR 20:8.4(f)7 (Count 2).
By double-billing the estate for certain legal work,
Attorney Jelinske violated SCR 20:1.5(a)8 (Count 6).
a result of, a lawyer-client relationship or by
appointment of a court.
6
Wis. Stat. § 860.13 provides:
Who not to be purchaser, mortgagee or lessee
without court approval. The personal representative
may not be interested as a purchaser, mortgagee, or
lessee of any property in the estate unless the
purchase, mortgage, or lease is made with the written
consent of the persons interested and of the guardian
ad litem for minors and individuals adjudicated
incompetent or with the approval of the court after
petition and hearing on notice given under
s. 879.03 to all persons interested, or unless the
will of the decedent specifically authorizes the
personal representative to be interested as a
purchaser, mortgagee, or lessee.
7
SCR 20:8.4(f) provides: "It is professional misconduct
for a lawyer to violate a statute, supreme court rule, supreme
court order or supreme court decision regulating the conduct of
lawyers."
8
SCR 20:1.5(a) provides:
A lawyer shall not make an agreement for, charge,
or collect an unreasonable fee or an unreasonable
amount for expenses. The factors to be considered in
determining the reasonableness of a fee include the
following:
(1) the time and labor required, the novelty and
difficulty of the questions involved, and the skill
requisite to perform the legal service properly;
(continued)
9
No. 2016AP1897-D
By misappropriating funds held in fiduciary accounts and
misappropriating insurance proceeds belonging to the
estate, Attorney Jelinske violated former
SCR 20:1.15(j)(1) (Counts 8, 10, 11).
By failing to maintain complete and accurate records of
disbursements involving life insurance proceeds and other
funds belonging to fiduciary accounts, Attorney Jelinske
violated former SCR 20:1.15(j)(5)9 (Count 9).
(2) the likelihood, if apparent to the client,
that the acceptance of the particular employment will
preclude other employment by the lawyer;
(3) the fee customarily charged in the locality
for similar legal services;
(4) the amount involved and the results obtained;
(5) the time limitations imposed by the client or
by the circumstances;
(6) the nature and length of the professional
relationship with the client;
(7) the experience, reputation, and ability of
the lawyer or lawyers performing the services; and
(8) whether the fee is fixed or contingent.
9
Former SCR 20:1.15(j)(5) provided:
For each fiduciary account, the lawyer shall
retain records of receipts and disbursements as
necessary to document the transactions. The lawyer
shall maintain all of the following:
a. all monthly or other periodic statements
provided by the financial institution to the
lawyer or law firm; and
(continued)
10
No. 2016AP1897-D
By disbursing cash out of funds held in a fiduciary
account, Jelinske violated former SCR 20:1.15(j)(3)a.10
(Count 12).
By converting estate assets to his own use and denying
having done so in his deposition, Attorney Jelinske
violated SCR 20:8.4(c)11 (Counts 13 and 20).
By paying himself both a personal representative's fee
and attorney's fees, Attorney Jelinske violated
SCR 20:8.4(f) (Count 14).
By knowingly making false statements of fact in sworn
estate accountings filed with the court, Attorney
Jelinske violated SCR 20:3.3(a)(1)12 (Counts 15 and 17).
b. all transaction records, including canceled or
imaged checks, passbooks, records of electronic
fund transactions, duplicates of any instrument
issued by the financial institution from funds
held in the account, duplicate deposit slips
identifying the source of any deposit, and
duplicate withdrawal slips identifying the
purpose of any withdrawal.
10
Former SCR 20:1.15(j)(3)a. provided: "No disbursement of
cash shall be made from a fiduciary account or from a deposit to
a fiduciary account, and no check shall be made payable to
'Cash.'"
11
SCR 20:8.4(c) provides: "It is professional misconduct
for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud,
deceit or misrepresentation."
12
SCR 20:3.3(a)(1) provides: "A lawyer shall not knowingly
make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to
correct a false statement of material fact or law previously
made to the tribunal by the lawyer."
11
No. 2016AP1897-D
By testifying falsely in court about his use of estate
funds for his own personal expenses, Attorney Jelinske
violated SCR 20:3.3(a)(3)13 (Count 21).
By making false representations to the OLR in connection
with the grievance investigation, Attorney Jelinske
violated SCR 22.03(6)14 as enforced via SCR 20:8.4(h)15
(Count 23).
¶22 On the basis of this professional misconduct, the
parties stipulated to an 18-month suspension of Attorney
Jelinske's license, retroactive to October 16, 2017. The
referee adopted that stipulation as his recommendation to the
13
SCR 20:3.3(a)(3) provides:
A lawyer shall not knowingly offer evidence that the
lawyer knows to be false. If a lawyer, the lawyer's
client, or a witness called by the lawyer, has offered
material evidence and the lawyer comes to know of its
falsity, the lawyer shall take reasonable remedial
measures, including, if necessary, disclosure to the
tribunal. A lawyer may refuse to offer evidence,
other than the testimony of a defendant in a criminal
matter that the lawyer reasonably believes is false.
14
SCR 22.03(6) provides: "In the course of the
investigation, the respondent's wilful failure to provide
relevant information, to answer questions fully, or to furnish
documents and the respondent's misrepresentation in a disclosure
are misconduct, regardless of the merits of the matters asserted
in the grievance."
15
SCR 20:8.4(h) provides: "It is professional misconduct
for a lawyer to fail to cooperate in the investigation of a
grievance filed with the office of lawyer regulation as required
by SCR 21.15(4), SCR 22.001(9)(b), SCR 22.03(2), SCR 22.03(6),
or SCR 22.04(1)."
12
No. 2016AP1897-D
court. He stated in his report that an 18-month suspension is
justified by precedent; namely, In re Disciplinary Proceedings
Against Meisel, 2017 WI 40, 374 Wis. 2d 655, 893 N.W.2d 558 (18-
month suspension for 15 counts of stipulated misconduct, which
included converting approximately $175,000 from two estates and
two guardianship proceedings and engaging in misrepresentation;
mitigating factors included attorney's serious medical condition
and other personal and financial issues, as well as attorney's
lack of prior discipline); In re Disciplinary Proceedings
Against Voss, 2014 WI 75, 356 Wis. 2d 382, 850 N.W.2d 190 (18-
month suspension for 11 counts of stipulated misconduct, which
included converting over $48,000 of client's funds and engaging
in misrepresentation; attorney's disciplinary history consisted
of one private reprimand and one public reprimand); In re
Disciplinary Proceedings Against Losby, 2008 WI 8, 306
Wis. 2d 303, 743 N.W.2d 819 (18-month suspension for 10 counts
of misconduct arising out of work in three estate matters,
including failing to act with due diligence, taking funds to
which attorney was not entitled, and engaging in
misrepresentation; attorney had no prior discipline).
¶23 A referee's findings of fact are affirmed unless they
are clearly erroneous. Conclusions of law are reviewed de novo.
See In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Eisenberg, 2004 WI
14, ¶5, 269 Wis. 2d 43, 675 N.W.2d 747. The court may impose
whatever sanction it sees fit regardless of the referee's
recommendation. See In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against
Widule, 2003 WI 34, ¶44, 261 Wis. 2d 45, 660 N.W.2d 686.
13
No. 2016AP1897-D
¶24 After careful review of the matter, we conclude that
the record supports the referee's findings of fact. In
particular, we conclude that the admitted allegations of the
complaint and the over two-dozen exhibits attached to parties'
stipulation provide an ample factual basis for the referee's
findings. We therefore adopt them.
¶25 We further conclude that the record supports the
referee's legal conclusions that Attorney Jelinske engaged in
multiple counts of misconduct. We therefore adopt them.
¶26 Having accepted the referee's findings of fact and
conclusions of law, we turn to the appropriate discipline for
Attorney Jelinske's misconduct. While no two disciplinary cases
are identical, we agree with the referee that our decisions in
Meisel, Voss, and Losby support the referee's recommendation for
an 18-month suspension. Like Attorney Jelinske, the respondent
attorneys in those cases mishandled considerable sums of money
and engaged in various forms of misrepresentation to conceal
their behavior. Also like Attorney Jelinske, the respondent
attorneys in those cases had never before been suspended from
legal practice, yet they received lengthy, 18-month suspensions
for their serious misconduct. The facts here easily justify
such a suspension.
¶27 Indeed, an 18-month suspension, on these facts, is
modest——particularly given the pointedly critical circuit court
findings regarding Attorney Jelinske's conduct during the
probate proceedings and related litigation. If Attorney
Jelinske had been previously disciplined, a longer suspension
14
No. 2016AP1897-D
would be necessary. We remind Attorney Jelinske that the court
may impose progressively severe sanctions when an attorney
engages in repeated misconduct. We impose the sanction to which
the parties stipulated with the expectation that Attorney
Jelinske will not commit future misconduct subjecting him to
additional discipline.
¶28 However, we part ways with the parties and the referee
in holding that Attorney Jelinske's license suspension should be
prospective, not retroactive. The parties stipulated, and the
referee agreed, that Attorney Jelinske's 18-month suspension
should be backdated to nearly a year before the issuance of this
decision, to October 16, 2017——the date when, according to the
referee, Attorney Jelinske "resigned from his law firm." We
disagree.
¶29 The parties' stipulation provides additional,
important information regarding this proposed retroactive date
for the commencement of the suspension, as well as the
circumstances surrounding Attorney Jelinske's resignation from
his law firm. According to the exhibits attached to the
parties' stipulation, almost exactly one year before the
proposed retroactive date, on October 19, 2016, Attorney
Jelinske pled no contest to three misdemeanor counts of theft
related to his work on the R.S.M. estate. The circuit court
imposed and stayed a sentence of five months of jail time and
placed Attorney Jelinske on probation for 18 months. The
circuit court ordered as a condition of probation that Attorney
Jelinske not act in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of anyone.
15
No. 2016AP1897-D
Before imposing this condition, the circuit court explained that
attorneys are "held to a higher standard" because "they're in a
position of trust. They act as fiduciaries for other people."
After imposing this condition, the circuit court explained that
Attorney Jelinske "can't be trusted with" acting in a fiduciary
capacity. "You have to earn your trust back," the court said.
¶30 Almost one year later, at a hearing on October 16,
2017 (the proposed retroactive date), the circuit court
apparently16 noted that Attorney Jelinske had been practicing law
notwithstanding his probation condition prohibiting him from
acting in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of anyone. The circuit
court scheduled a November 21, 2017 hearing to discuss this
fact.17 At that hearing, the circuit court stated that it was
"very shocked" to learn that Attorney Jelinske had been
practicing law notwithstanding his probation condition
prohibiting him from acting in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of
anyone. The court rejected Attorney Jelinske's attempted
justification for his post-sentencing work as an attorney: that
this probation condition meant only that he could not serve as a
personal representative or as a trustee, or hold client funds.
The circuit court stated that its probation condition clearly
prohibited him from acting as an attorney during the course of
16
We say "apparently" because the parties failed to include
a transcript of the October 16, 2017 hearing with their exhibits
to their stipulation.
17
The parties included a transcript of the November 21,
2017 hearing with their exhibits to the stipulation.
16
No. 2016AP1897-D
his probation, and the court extended Attorney Jelinske's
probation by one year. The court noted that it was sufficiently
troubled by Attorney Jelinske's conduct that it had considered
giving him additional jail time as a condition of probation, but
it ultimately declined to do so.
¶31 Given these facts, we cannot endorse the parties' and
the referee's recommendation that Attorney Jelinske's 18-month
suspension should be backdated almost a year, to October 2017.
We have held that a retroactive suspension is generally not
favored in the absence of some compelling circumstance that
mitigates the severity of the discipline required; e.g., where
the recommended suspension arises out of the same set of
circumstances that prompted an earlier suspension. See In re
Disciplinary Proceedings Against Schoenecker, 2016 WI 27, ¶¶16-
17, 368 Wis. 2d 57, 878 N.W.2d 163; In re Disciplinary
Proceedings Against Brown-Perry, 2003 WI 151, ¶15, 267
Wis. 2d 184, 672 N.W.2d 287. No such compelling circumstances
are present here. Having been barred from acting as a fiduciary
as part of his October 2016 sentencing, a wide span of cases
should have made clear to Attorney Jelinske that he could not
practice law during his probationary term. See, e.g., Sands v.
Menard, Inc., 2010 WI 96, ¶53, 328 Wis. 2d 647, 787 N.W.2d 384
("Attorneys owe a fiduciary duty of loyalty to their clients.");
In re Law Examination of 1926, 191 Wis. 359, 362, 210 N.W. 710
(1926) ("An attorney occupies a fiduciary relationship towards
his client."). Yet Attorney Jelinske continued to practice law
during his probationary term, stopping only after having drawn
17
No. 2016AP1897-D
the ire of the circuit court. We refuse to classify Attorney
Jelinske's belated compliance with the terms of his criminal
sentence as a compelling circumstance that justifies leniency
sufficient to permit him to petition for reinstatement of his
law license not long after the issuance of this decision. See
SCR 22.29(1) (attorney suspended for a definite period of six
months or more is eligible to file a reinstatement petition
three months before the end of the suspension period).
¶32 We turn next to the issue of costs. Our general
practice is to impose full costs on attorneys who are found to
have committed misconduct. See SCR 22.24(1m). Attorney
Jelinske has not claimed that there are reasons to depart from
that practice in this matter, and we have not found any reason
to do so. We therefore impose full costs, which, according to
the OLR, total $13,032.92.
¶33 Finally, we turn to the issue of restitution. The OLR
has not sought restitution, explaining that doing so is
unnecessary because all restitution issues were addressed in
R.S.M.'s estate proceeding. We agree with the OLR's reasoning.
No restitution is ordered.
¶34 IT IS ORDERED that the license of Thad W. Jelinske to
practice law in Wisconsin is suspended for a period of 18
months, effective the date of this decision.
¶35 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date
of this order, Thad W. Jelinske shall pay to the Office of
Lawyer Regulation the costs of this proceeding, which are
$13,032.92.
18
No. 2016AP1897-D
¶36 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Thad W. Jelinske shall
comply with the provisions of SCR 22.26 concerning the duties of
a person whose license to practice law in Wisconsin has been
suspended.
¶37 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that compliance with all
conditions with this order is required for reinstatement. See
SCR 22.28(3).
19
No. 2016AP1897-D
1