Title: Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility v. Clay E. Konnor
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 1999AP000211-D
State: Wisconsin
Issuer: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Date: December 3, 1999

SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
 
Case No.: 
99-0211-D 
 
 
Complete Title 
of Case: 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Clay E. Konnor, Attorney at Law. 
 
Board of Attorneys Professional  
Responsibility,  
 
Complainant, 
     v. 
Clay E. Konnor,  
 
Respondent.  
 
 
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST KONNOR 
 
 
Opinion Filed: 
December 3, 1999 
Submitted on Briefs: 
      
Oral Argument: 
      
 
 
Source of APPEAL 
 
COURT: 
      
 
COUNTY: 
      
 
JUDGE: 
      
 
 
JUSTICES: 
 
Concurred: 
      
 
Dissented: 
      
 
Not Participating:       
 
 
ATTORNEYS: 
      
 
No. 99-0211-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. 99-0211-D 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN               :        
        
 
 
 
 
IN SUPREME COURT 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Clay E. Konnor, Attorney at Law. 
 
Board of Attorneys Professional  
Responsibility,  
 
          Complainant, 
 
     v. 
 
Clay E. Konnor,  
 
          Respondent.  
FILED 
 
DEC 3, 1999 
 
Marilyn L. Graves 
Clerk of Supreme Court 
Madison, WI 
 
 
 
ATTORNEY 
disciplinary 
proceeding.  Attorney's 
license 
revoked.  
¶1 
PER CURIAM   We review the recommendation of the 
referee that the license of Clay E. Konnor to practice law in 
Wisconsin be revoked as discipline for professional misconduct. 
 That misconduct consisted of using for his own purposes funds 
held in escrow to pay real estate taxes and endorsing a check in 
the name of a municipality to do so, and breaking into the home 
of an acquaintance and taking her property, removing an oil 
painting from a private club and retaining control of it and 
three other paintings that had been stolen from that club, and 
practicing law while suspended from practice.  
¶2 
We determine that the appropriate discipline for 
Attorney Konnor's professional misconduct is the revocation of 
No. 99-0211-D 
 
2 
his license to practice law.  By that conduct, some of which led 
to criminal convictions, he has demonstrated that he is not fit 
to represent others in legal matters and in our court system. 
¶3 
Attorney Konnor was admitted to practice law in 
Wisconsin in 1988 and, until his license was summarily suspended 
in the course of this proceeding, practiced in Milwaukee.  He 
has not been the subject of a prior disciplinary proceeding.  
The referee, Attorney Stanley Hack, made findings of fact 
following a disciplinary hearing.   
¶4 
In December 1993, Attorney Konnor endorsed a check in 
the amount of $3,333.73 from a mortgagee payable to himself and 
a municipal treasurer.  The check represented funds held in 
escrow to be used for payment of real estate taxes on Attorney 
Konnor's home.  Attorney Konnor deposited the check with the 
forged endorsement into a personal checking account, and it was 
not discovered until three years later at a real estate closing 
on the residence that the 1993 real estate taxes had not been 
paid.  A criminal complaint charging felony forgery was filed 
against Attorney Konnor in January 1998, and on a plea bargain 
he pleaded no contest to one count of misdemeanor theft.  
Sentence was withheld and the court placed him on one year's 
probation.  
¶5 
In October 1997, Attorney Konnor removed an oil 
painting from a private club in Chicago, Illinois.  When 
contacted by the law enforcement authorities the following 
month, he had in his possession four oil paintings that had been 
taken from that club, having a value of approximately $30,000.  
Attorney Konnor returned the paintings to the investigating 
No. 99-0211-D 
 
3 
officer, and the authorities decided not to charge him with a 
crime.  
¶6 
In November 1997, Attorney Konnor broke into the home 
of an acquaintance and was discovered removing pieces of musical 
equipment.  Attorney Konnor subsequently pleaded guilty to one 
count of burglary, sentence was withheld, and the court placed 
him on five years' probation concurrent with the probation 
imposed in the theft case.  As a condition of probation, the 
court ordered him to serve 30 days in jail, pay the victim $364 
in restitution, and undergo psychiatric treatment. 
¶7 
Beginning 
in 
October 
1994, 
Attorney 
Konnor 
was 
suspended from the practice of law several times for failing to 
pay membership dues to the State Bar and for failing to comply 
with Continuing Legal Education requirements.  While suspended, 
he continued to represent clients, making numerous court 
appearances in 1996 and 1997.  After being charged with the 
unauthorized practice of law, he entered pleas to seven 
misdemeanor counts of practicing law without a license, and 
eight additional counts were not charged but were read in for 
purposes of sentencing.  The court withheld sentence and placed 
Attorney Konnor on one year's probation for each of the seven 
counts, concurrent with each other and concurrent with the 
probation 
imposed 
for 
the 
earlier 
theft 
and 
burglary 
convictions.  As a condition of probation, the court ordered him 
to repay all fees he had received on cases in which he appeared 
by public defender appointment while suspended from practice. 
¶8 
The referee concluded that by forging the endorsement 
of the municipal treasurer and committing a burglary, Attorney 
No. 99-0211-D 
 
4 
Konnor committed criminal acts reflecting adversely on his 
honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness as a lawyer in other 
respects, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(b).1  The referee concluded 
further that by taking an oil painting and retaining three 
others that had been stolen, he engaged in conduct involving 
dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, in violation of 
SCR 20:8.4(c),2 and by engaging in the practice of law while 
suspended 
from 
practice, 
he 
violated 
SCR 
20:8.4(b) 
and 
20:5.5(a).3   
¶9 
As 
discipline 
for 
that 
misconduct, 
the 
referee 
recommended that Attorney Konnor's license to practice law be 
revoked.  The referee considered the personal and medical 
problems Attorney Konnor had suffered, for which he has been 
receiving treatment, but he rejected the contention that those 
problems caused the misconduct.  The referee found on the basis 
of the evidence that Attorney Konnor's ongoing medical problems 
                     
1 SCR 20:8.4(b) provides: 
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to: 
(b) commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the 
lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in 
other respects;  
2 SCR 20:8.4(c) provides: 
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to: 
(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit 
or misrepresentation; 
3 SCR 20:5.5(a) provides:  
A lawyer shall not: 
(a) practice law in a jurisdiction where doing so violates 
the regulation of the legal profession in that jurisdiction; or  
No. 99-0211-D 
 
5 
may be controlled but never will be fully cured.  The referee 
considered as mitigating factors Attorney Konnor's admission of 
the charges of misconduct and the fact that he voluntarily 
withdrew from the practice of law prior to the court's summary 
suspension of his license at the outset of this proceeding.  In 
addition to the license revocation, the referee recommended that 
Attorney Konnor be required to pay the costs of this proceeding. 
¶10 We 
adopt 
the 
referee's 
findings 
of 
fact 
and 
conclusions of law and determine that the misconduct established 
in this proceeding warrants the revocation of Attorney Konnor's 
license to practice law.  We determine further that it is 
appropriate that the revocation date as of June 16, 1999, the 
date on which we granted the motion of the Board of Attorneys 
Professional Responsibility for the summary suspension of his 
license, pursuant to SCR 11.03.4 
¶11 IT IS ORDERED that the license of Clay E. Konnor to 
practice law in Wisconsin is revoked, effective June 16, 1999, 
as discipline for professional misconduct.   
                     
4 SCR 11.03 provides, in pertinent part:  Suspension on 
conviction of crime. 
(1) Summary suspension. Upon receiving satisfactory proof 
that an attorney has been convicted of a serious crime, the 
supreme court may summarily suspend the attorney, pending final 
disposition of a disciplinary proceeding, whether the conviction 
resulted from a plea of guilty or no contest or from a verdict 
after trial, and regardless of the pendency of an appeal.  
(2) Serious crime, definition. The term "serious crime" 
means a felony or any lesser crime which, in the opinion of the 
court, reflects upon the attorney's fitness.  
 . . .  
No. 99-0211-D 
 
6 
¶12 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date 
of this order, Clay E. Konnor pay to the Board of Attorneys 
Professional Responsibility the costs of this proceeding. 
¶13 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Clay E. Konnor comply with 
the provisions of SCR 22.26 concerning the duties of a person 
whose license to practice law in Wisconsin has been revoked.  
No. 99-0211-D 
 
1