Title: Office of Lawyer Regulation v. Lisa A. Webber Hicks

State: wisconsin

Issuer: Wisconsin Supreme Court

Document:

2013 WI 9 
 
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
 
 
 
 
CASE NO.: 
2012AP1947-D   
COMPLETE TITLE: 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Lisa A. Webber Hicks, Attorney At Law: 
 
Office of Lawyer Regulation, 
          Complainant, 
     v. 
Lisa A. Webber Hicks, 
          Respondent.   
 
 
 
 
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST WEBBER HICKS   
 
 
OPINION FILED: 
January 23, 2013   
SUBMITTED ON BRIEFS: 
        
ORAL ARGUMENT: 
        
 
 
SOURCE OF APPEAL: 
 
 
COURT: 
        
 
COUNTY: 
        
 
JUDGE: 
        
 
 
 
JUSTICES: 
 
 
CONCURRED: 
        
 
DISSENTED: 
        
 
NOT PARTICIPATING:         
 
 
 
ATTORNEYS: 
 
 
 
2013 WI 9
NOTICE 
This opinion is subject to further 
editing and modification.  The final 
version will appear in the bound 
volume of the official reports.   
No.   2012AP1947-D 
 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN  
 
 
   : 
IN SUPREME COURT 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Lisa A. Webber Hicks, Attorney At Law: 
 
Office of Lawyer Regulation, 
 
          Complainant, 
 
     v. 
 
Lisa A. Webber Hicks, 
 
          Respondent. 
 
FILED 
 
JAN 23, 2013 
 
Diane M. Fremgen 
Clerk of Supreme Court 
 
 
 
 
ATTORNEY 
disciplinary 
proceeding. 
 
Attorney 
publicly 
reprimanded.   
 
¶1 
PER CURIAM.   The Office Lawyer Regulation (OLR) has 
filed a complaint and motion pursuant to SCR 22.221 asking this 
                                                 
1 SCR 22.22 provides, in part: Reciprocal discipline. 
(1) An attorney on whom public discipline for 
misconduct 
or 
a 
license 
suspension 
for 
medical 
incapacity has been imposed by another jurisdiction 
shall promptly notify the director of the matter. 
Failure to furnish the notice within 20 days of the 
effective date of the order or judgment of the other 
jurisdiction constitutes misconduct. 
No. 
2012AP1947-D   
 
2 
 
court to impose reciprocal discipline against Attorney Lisa A. 
Webber Hicks identical to the public censure imposed by the 
                                                                                                                                                             
(2) Upon the receipt of a certified copy of a 
judgment or order of another jurisdiction imposing 
discipline for misconduct or a license suspension for 
medical incapacity of an attorney admitted to the 
practice of law or engaged in the practice of law in 
this state, the director may file a complaint in the 
supreme court containing all of the following: 
(a) A certified copy of the judgment or order 
from the other jurisdiction. 
(b) A motion requesting an order directing the 
attorney to inform the supreme court in writing within 
20 days of any claim of the attorney predicated on the 
grounds set forth in sub. (3) that the imposition of 
the identical discipline or license suspension by the 
supreme court would be unwarranted and the factual 
basis for the claim. 
(3) The supreme court shall impose the identical 
discipline or license suspension unless one or more of 
the following is present: 
(a) The procedure in the other jurisdiction was 
so lacking in notice or opportunity to be heard as to 
constitute a deprivation of due process. 
(b) 
There 
was 
such 
an 
infirmity 
of 
proof 
establishing the misconduct or medical incapacity that 
the supreme court could not accept as final the 
conclusion in respect to the misconduct or medical 
incapacity. 
(c) 
The 
misconduct 
justifies 
substantially 
different discipline in this state. 
(4) Except as provided in sub. (3), a final 
adjudication in another jurisdiction that an attorney 
has engaged in misconduct or has a medical incapacity 
shall 
be 
conclusive 
evidence 
of 
the 
attorney's 
misconduct or medical incapacity for purposes of a 
proceeding under this rule. 
No. 
2012AP1947-D   
 
3 
 
Supreme Court of Tennessee.  The OLR's complaint further alleges 
that Attorney Webber Hicks failed to notify the OLR of the 
public censure in Tennessee within 20 days of the effective date 
of its imposition, contrary to SCR 22.22(1). 
¶2 
On November 14, 2012, in response to the OLR's motion, 
this court issued an amended order directing Attorney Webber 
Hicks to show cause in writing by December 4, 2012, why the 
imposition of discipline reciprocal to that imposed by the 
Supreme Court of Tennessee would be unwarranted.  Attorney 
Webber Hicks failed to respond to either the OLR's complaint or 
the order to show cause. 
¶3 
Attorney Webber Hicks was admitted to practice law in 
Wisconsin in 1991.  Her most recent address furnished to the 
State Bar of Wisconsin is in Chicago, Illinois.  The OLR's 
complaint alleges that on information and belief, the most 
recent address Attorney Webber Hicks provided to the Supreme 
Court of Tennessee was Oliver Springs, Tennessee.  Attorney 
Webber Hicks was admitted to practice law in Tennessee in 1997 
and practiced under the names Lisa Anne Temple and Lisa Anne 
Webber.2 
¶4 
Attorney Webber Hicks' Wisconsin law license was 
suspended in June of 1994 for failure to comply with continuing 
legal education (CLE) requirements and failure to pay State Bar 
                                                 
2 There is a minor discrepancy between the complaint filed 
by the OLR and the pleadings in the disciplinary proceedings in 
Tennessee regarding the spelling of Attorney Webber Hicks' 
middle name.  We use the spelling in the Tennessee pleadings. 
No. 
2012AP1947-D   
 
4 
 
dues.  Her Wisconsin license remains suspended for those 
reasons.  Attorney Webber Hicks' Wisconsin law license is also 
suspended for disciplinary reasons.  This court imposed a four-
year suspension and a public reprimand as reciprocal discipline 
to that imposed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee in a separate 
proceeding.  In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against [Webber] 
Hicks, 2012 WI 101, 343 Wis. 2d 411, 816 N.W.2d 316.  The 
professional misconduct in that case consisted of practicing law 
in Tennessee while her Tennessee law license was suspended; 
signing her law partner's name on a settlement document without 
his permission; failure to respond to the Board of Professional 
Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee's requests for 
information regarding her practice during suspension; making 
incorrect disbursements from client trust funds to her former 
law firm for unapproved fees; disbursing money from the firm's 
operating account to cover an improper disbursement; and 
delaying making disbursements to clients for several months. 
¶5 
In the instant matter, on May 25, 2012, the Supreme 
Court of Tennessee publicly censured Attorney Webber Hicks for 
agreeing to represent a client in a divorce while her license 
was suspended; not informing the client of her suspension; not 
filing the divorce; misrepresenting that she had obtained a 
divorce decree; failing to communicate with the client; and 
failing to return fees to the client after agreeing to do so. 
¶6 
Supreme Court Rule 22.22(3) provides that this court 
"shall impose the identical discipline or license suspension 
unless . . . [t]he procedure in the other jurisdiction was so 
No. 
2012AP1947-D   
 
5 
 
lacking in notice or opportunity to be heard as to constitute a 
deprivation of due process;" "[t]here was such an infirmity of 
proof establishing the misconduct . . . that the supreme court 
could not accept as final the conclusion in respect to the 
misconduct . . .;" or "[t]he misconduct justifies substantially 
different discipline in this state."  Attorney Webber Hicks 
failed to respond to the order to show cause and has not alleged 
that any of these three exceptions exist.  Accordingly, we 
conclude that the imposition of reciprocal discipline against 
her is warranted. 
¶7 
IT IS ORDERED that Lisa A. Webber Hicks is publicly 
reprimanded as reciprocal discipline to that imposed by the 
Supreme Court of Tennessee.  Lisa A. Webber Hicks' license to 
practice 
law 
in 
Wisconsin 
remains 
suspended 
for 
both 
administrative and disciplinary reasons. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
No. 
2012AP1947-D   
 
 
 
1