Case Title: Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility v. Joseph T. Lex

Citation: 2000 WI 49

Docket Number: 2000AP000544-D

State: wisconsin

Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

Date: 2000-06-16T00:00:00Z

Document:
2000 WI 49 
 
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
 
Case No.: 
00-0544-D 
 
 
Complete Title 
of Case: 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Joseph T. Lex, Attorney at Law. 
 
Board of Attorneys Professional  
Responsibility,  
 
Complainant, 
 
v. 
Joseph T. Lex,  
 
Respondent.  
 
 
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST LEX 
 
 
Opinion Filed: 
June 16, 2000 
Submitted on Briefs: 
      
Oral Argument: 
      
 
 
Source of APPEAL 
 
COURT: 
      
 
COUNTY: 
      
 
JUDGE: 
      
 
 
JUSTICES: 
 
Concurred: 
      
 
Dissented: 
      
 
Not Participating:       
 
 
ATTORNEYS: 
      
 
 
 
2000 WI 49 
 
NOTICE 
This opinion is subject to further editing and 
modification.  The final version will appear in 
the bound volume of the official reports. 
 
 
No. 00-0544-D 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN               :        
        
 
 
 
 
IN SUPREME COURT 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Joseph T. Lex, Attorney at Law. 
 
Board of Attorneys Professional  
Responsibility,  
 
          Complainant, 
 
     v. 
 
Joseph T. Lex,  
 
          Respondent.  
 
FILED 
 
JUN 16, 2000 
 
Cornelia G. Clark 
Clerk of Supreme Court 
Madison, WI 
 
 
 
ATTORNEY 
disciplinary 
proceeding.  Attorney 
publicly 
reprimanded.  
¶1 
PER CURIAM   We review the recommendation of the 
referee that Attorney Joseph T. Lex be publicly reprimanded for 
professional misconduct consisting of his intentional failure to 
file Wisconsin income tax returns timely for several years.  We 
determine 
that 
the 
recommended 
public 
reprimand 
is 
the 
appropriate discipline to impose for Attorney Lex's professional 
misconduct.  
¶2 
Attorney Lex was licensed to practice law in Wisconsin 
in 1966 and practices in the Milwaukee area.  He was disciplined 
once previously for professional misconduct when, in 1987, the 
No. 
00-0544-D 
 
2 
court publicly reprimanded him for neglect of a bankruptcy 
matter and a divorce matter, failure to respond to requests from 
the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility (Board) for 
information concerning his conduct, and attempting to serve 
papers personally on an adverse party in such a way as to harass 
that party.  Disciplinary Proceedings Against Lex, 137 Wis. 2d 
475, 405 N.W.2d 323 (1987).   
¶3 
Based on a stipulation of the parties in the instant 
proceeding, the referee, Attorney John R. Decker, made the 
following findings of fact.  Attorney Lex intentionally failed 
to file timely Wisconsin income tax returns for the years 1991 
and 1993 through 1995.  In addition, he had received 24 separate 
assessments from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue from 1983 
through 1998 for his failure to file either individual income 
tax returns or employee withholding tax returns.  Attorney Lex 
ultimately filed the tax returns and completed an agreement with 
the Department of Revenue to pay all taxes, interest and 
penalties for those years.  The referee also found that Attorney 
Lex experienced financial and professional hardships during the 
period for which he failed to file state tax returns, that he 
was not prosecuted criminally for his failure to file the 
returns, and that he cooperated with the Board's investigation 
into his conduct. 
¶4 
Based on those facts, the referee concluded that 
Attorney Lex violated a standard of conduct for lawyers set 
forth in numerous attorney disciplinary proceedings and thus 
No. 
00-0544-D 
 
3 
violated SCR 20:8.4(f).1  As discipline for that misconduct, the 
referee recommended imposition of the public reprimand to which 
the parties had stipulated.  The referee also recommended, again 
as the parties had stipulated, that Attorney Lex be required to 
pay the costs of this disciplinary proceeding. 
¶5 
We 
adopt 
the 
referee's 
findings 
of 
fact 
and 
conclusions of law and determine that the recommended public 
reprimand is the appropriate discipline to impose for Attorney 
Lex's professional misconduct.  We also require Attorney Lex to 
pay the costs of this proceeding. 
IT IS ORDERED that Joseph T. Lex is publicly reprimanded 
for professional misconduct established in this proceeding. 
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date of 
this order, Joseph T. Lex pay to the Board of Attorneys 
Professional Responsibility 
the costs 
of this 
proceeding, 
                     
1 SCR 20:8.4(f) provides: 
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:  
(f) violate a statute, supreme court rule, supreme court 
order or supreme court decision regulating the conduct of 
lawyers[.]  
 
No. 
00-0544-D 
 
4 
provided that in the event the costs are not paid within the 
time specified and absent a showing to this court of his 
inability to pay the costs within that time, the license of 
Joseph T. Lex to practice law in Wisconsin shall be suspended 
until further order of the court. 
  
 
 
1