Case Title: Office of Lawyer Regulation v. Ann Cahill Hammer

Citation: 

Docket Number: 1997AP002957-D

State: wisconsin

Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

Date: 1998-06-24T00:00:00Z

Document:
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
 
Case No.: 
97-2957-D 
 
 
Complete Title 
of Case: 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Ann Cahill, Attorney at Law. 
 
 
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST CAHILL 
 
 
Opinion Filed: 
June 24, 1998 
Submitted on Briefs: 
 
Oral Argument: 
 
 
 
Source of APPEAL 
 
COURT: 
 
 
COUNTY: 
 
 
JUDGE: 
 
 
 
JUSTICES: 
 
Concurred: 
 
 
Dissented: 
 
 
Not Participating:  
 
 
ATTORNEYS: 
 
 
No.  97-2957-D 
 
1 
 
NOTICE 
This opinion is subject to further editing and 
modification.  The final version will appear in 
the bound volume of the official reports. 
 
 
No. 97-2957-D 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN               :        
        
 
 
 
 
IN SUPREME COURT 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against ANN CAHILL, Attorney at Law. 
FILED 
 
JUN 24, 1998 
 
Marilyn L. Graves 
Clerk of Supreme Court 
Madison, WI 
 
 
 
ATTORNEY 
disciplinary 
proceeding.  Attorney’s 
license 
suspended; conditions imposed.  
¶1 
PER CURIAM   We review the recommendation of the 
referee that the license of Ann Cahill to practice law in 
Wisconsin be suspended for six months and that conditions 
directed to her rehabilitation from alcoholism be imposed on 
that license for two years following reinstatement as discipline 
for her misconduct. That misconduct led to numerous criminal 
violations, for which she has served time in jail and has been 
placed on probation and fined. We determine that the recommended 
discipline is appropriate for the misconduct established in this 
proceeding.  
¶2 
Attorney Cahill was admitted to practice law in 
Wisconsin in 1992 and began practicing in 1996. She currently 
practices in Oshkosh. She has not been the subject of a prior 
disciplinary proceeding. Based on the stipulation of the parties 
and Attorney Cahill’s admissions in her answer to the complaint 
No.  97-2957-D 
 
2 
of the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility (Board), 
the referee, Attorney John E. Shannon, Jr., made findings of 
fact and conclusions of law as follows.  
¶3 
During the 16-month period from August, 1995 to 
December, 1996, Attorney Cahill engaged in conduct that led to 
the following misdemeanor convictions: two counts of fraud of a 
hotel innkeeper, for which she was sentenced to one year’s 
probation and ordered to pay $1300 restitution; second and third 
offenses of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, for 
which she was fined, her driving privileges were revoked, and 
she was sentenced to 20 days and 60 days in jail, respectively; 
two counts of issuing worthless checks, for which she was placed 
on 36 months’ probation and ordered to pay $950 restitution; one 
count of issuing worthless check, for which she was placed on 
one year’s probation and ordered to pay $882.02 restitution; one 
count of disorderly conduct, which involved her violent reaction 
to alcohol. Attorney Cahill has made all restitution as ordered, 
and her probation ended September 22, 1997.  
¶4 
The referee concluded that by her convictions of fraud 
of an innkeeper, OWI, issuance of worthless checks, and 
disorderly conduct, Attorney Cahill has committed acts that 
reflect adversely on her honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as 
a lawyer in other respects, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(b). He 
also concluded that her issuance of worthless checks and fraud 
of an innkeeper convictions 
constituted conduct 
involving 
dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, in violation of 
SCR 20:8.4(c).  
No.  97-2957-D 
 
3 
¶5 
The referee found further that Attorney Cahill suffers 
from alcoholism and that her OWI and disorderly conduct 
convictions were causally related to it. She has been abstaining 
from alcohol since July 5, 1997, and at the time of the 
disciplinary hearing, she was pursuing treatment for her 
alcoholism. The referee concluded that Attorney Cahill has a 
medical incapacity, as defined in SCR 22.01(12),1 and that her 
right to practice law should be made subject to the conditions 
directed to her continued treatment for alcoholism to which she 
and the Board had stipulated.  
¶6 
The referee also recommended that Attorney Cahill’s 
license to practice law be suspended for six months as 
discipline for the misconduct for which her alcoholism was not 
considered a mitigating factor, namely, three convictions for 
issuing worthless checks and a theft offense that had been 
dismissed by the prosecutor but read in for purposes of 
sentencing on two worthless check charges. In addition, the 
referee recommended that Attorney Cahill be required to pay the 
costs of this proceeding.  
¶7 
We 
adopt 
the 
referee’s 
findings 
of 
fact 
and 
conclusions of law and determine that the recommended six-month 
                     
1 SCR 22.01(12) provides: 
(12) “Medical Incapacity” means the inability of an 
attorney to practice law because of a physical, mental, 
emotional, social or behavioral condition that is recognized by 
experts in medicine or psychology as a principal factor which 
substantially prevents the attorney from performing his or her 
profession to acceptable professional standards.   
No.  97-2957-D 
 
4 
license 
suspension 
and 
the 
imposition 
of 
the 
stipulated 
conditions related to her alcoholism constitute the appropriate 
disciplinary response to her misconduct. As noted by the 
referee, none of the offenses of which she was convicted 
involved a client of Attorney Cahill or her conduct as a lawyer.  
¶8 
IT IS ORDERED that the license of Ann Cahill to 
practice law in Wisconsin is suspended for a period of six 
months, commencing August 10, 1998.  
¶9 
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that for a period of two years 
following reinstatement of her license, Attorney Cahill shall 
comply with the conditions specified in the stipulation on file 
in this proceeding.  
¶10 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date 
of this order, Ann Cahill pay to the Board of Attorneys 
Professional Responsibility 
the costs 
of this 
proceeding, 
provided that if the costs are not paid within the time 
specified and absent a showing to this court of her inability to 
pay the costs within that time, the license of Ann Cahill to 
practice law in Wisconsin shall remain suspended until further 
order of the court.  
¶11 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Ann Cahill comply with the 
provisions of SCR 22.26 concerning the duties of a person whose 
license to practice law in Wisconsin has been suspended.
 
 
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