Title: Office of Lawyer Regulation v. Mark E. Sostarich
Citation: 2006 WI 24
Docket Number: 2004AP001911-D
State: Wisconsin
Issuer: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Date: March 17, 2006

2006 WI 24 
 
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
 
 
 
 
CASE NO.: 
2004AP1911-D 
 
 
COMPLETE TITLE: 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Mark E. Sostarich, Attorney at Law: 
 
Office of Lawyer Regulation, 
          Complainant, 
     v. 
Mark E. Sostarich, 
          Respondent. 
 
 
 
 
REINSTATEMENT OF SOSTARICH 
 
 
OPINION FILED: 
March 17, 2006   
SUBMITTED ON BRIEFS: 
        
ORAL ARGUMENT: 
        
 
 
SOURCE OF APPEAL: 
 
 
COURT: 
        
 
COUNTY: 
        
 
JUDGE: 
        
 
 
 
JUSTICES: 
 
 
CONCURRED: 
        
 
DISSENTED: 
        
 
NOT PARTICIPATING: PROSSER and BUTLER, JR., J.J., did not 
participate.   
 
 
 
ATTORNEYS: 
 
      
 
 
2006 WI 24
NOTICE 
This opinion is subject to further 
editing and modification.  The final 
version will appear in the bound 
volume of the official reports.   
No.  2004AP1911-D  
 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN  
 
 
   : 
IN SUPREME COURT 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Mark E. Sostarich, Attorney at Law: 
 
Office of Lawyer Regulation, 
 
          Complainant, 
 
     v. 
 
Mark E. Sostarich, 
 
          Respondent. 
 
FILED 
 
MAR 17, 2006 
 
Cornelia G. Clark 
Clerk of Supreme Court 
 
 
 
 
 
ATTORNEY disciplinary proceeding.   Reinstatement granted.   
 
¶1 
PER 
CURIAM.   We 
review 
a 
referee's 
report 
recommending that Attorney Mark E. Sostarich's license to 
practice law in Wisconsin be reinstated.  The Office of Lawyer 
Regulation (OLR) and the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE) have both 
joined in that favorable recommendation.   
¶2 
After careful consideration, we adopt the referee's 
findings of fact and conclusions of law and conclude that 
Attorney 
Sostarich's 
license 
to 
practice 
law 
should 
be 
No. 
2004AP1911-D   
 
2 
 
reinstated.  We direct Attorney Sostarich to pay the costs of 
the reinstatement proceeding. 
¶3 
Attorney Sostarich was admitted to practice law in 
Wisconsin in 1978.  On May 18, 2004, this court summarily 
suspended his license to practice law upon learning that he had 
pled guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to 
commit offenses involving federal program funds under Title 18, 
U.S.C. §§ 371, 666, 1341 and 1346 in connection with a public 
corruption scandal involving former Senator Gary George.  United 
States v. Sostarich, No. 03 CR 260 (E.D. Wis. 2005).  See SCR 
22.20(1).1 
¶4 
An attorney disciplinary investigation was conducted 
and on June 29, 2005, this court suspended Attorney Sostarich's 
license to practice law for a period of 18 months.  In so doing 
we rejected as insufficient the referee's recommendation for a 
12-month suspension.  We ruled that Attorney Sostarich had 
committed a criminal act that reflected adversely on his 
honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other 
respects, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(b) when he engaged in the 
                                                 
1 SCR 22.20(1) provides: Summary license suspension on 
criminal convictions. 
 
(1) Summary 
suspension. 
 
Upon 
receiving 
satisfactory proof that an attorney has been found 
guilty or convicted of a serious crime, the supreme 
court may summarily suspend the attorney's license to 
practice 
law 
pending 
final 
disposition 
of 
a 
disciplinary proceeding, whether the finding of guilt 
or 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. 
No. 
2004AP1911-D   
 
3 
 
conduct resulting in the aforementioned criminal conviction.   
The suspension was imposed retroactive to the date his summary 
suspension took effect.  Attorney Sostarich was also directed to 
pay the costs of that disciplinary proceeding.  See In re 
Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sostarich, 2005 WI 97, 282 
Wis. 2d 712, 698 N.W.2d 711. 
¶5 
Attorney Sostarich now seeks reinstatement of his 
license to practice law in Wisconsin.  Consistent with our 
standard practice, the matter was submitted to a referee for 
consideration.   
¶6 
On December 21, 2005, Referee Kim Peterson conducted a 
formal hearing on the reinstatement petition.  Referee Peterson 
filed 
a 
report 
and 
recommendation 
on 
January 
18, 
2006, 
recommending this court grant the petition for reinstatement.  
The OLR and the BBE have both joined in that favorable 
recommendation.   
¶7 
SCR 22.31(1) provides the standard to be met for 
reinstatement of a law license.  The petitioner must meet the 
burden of demonstrating "by clear, satisfactory, and convincing 
evidence" that the lawyer has the moral character to practice 
law, that the lawyer's resumption of the practice of law will 
not 
be 
detrimental 
to 
the 
administration 
of 
justice 
or 
subversive of the public interest, and that the lawyer has 
complied with SCR 22.26 and the terms of the suspension.  
¶8 
In 
addition, 
SCR 
22.29(4) 
sets 
forth 
related 
requirements that a petition for reinstatement must show.  All 
No. 
2004AP1911-D   
 
4 
 
of these additional requirements are effectively incorporated 
into SCR 22.31(1). 
¶9 
Here, the referee concluded that Attorney Sostarich 
had met all of the criteria for reinstatement, including 
compliance with repayment obligations, and has met his burden of 
demonstrating that his license to practice law in Wisconsin 
should be reinstated.  The referee specifically noted that "the 
prior misconduct, for which Mr. Sostarich was sanctioned, is 
really an aberration in his life as an attorney, and not part of 
a pattern of improper behavior."   
¶10 We note further that Attorney Sostarich cooperated 
fully in the underlying federal criminal proceeding, self-
reported his conviction to the OLR, and is complying fully with 
the criminal penalties imposed upon him in the criminal 
proceeding.  On March 11, 2005, Attorney Sostarich was sentenced 
in federal court to three years probation, conditioned on 150 
days of home confinement with the usual conditions of home 
confinement, including electronic monitoring.  He was also 
ordered to pay restitution to the Police Athletic League in the 
amount of $42,649 and to perform 75 hours of community service.  
We note that during the sentencing proceeding in the federal 
court, the sentencing judge considered Attorney Sostarich's 
significant health concerns, commented that there was no real 
financial gain to Attorney Sostarich, and commented very 
favorably on Attorney Sostarich's otherwise stellar record of 
community and public service.   
No. 
2004AP1911-D   
 
5 
 
¶11 After careful review of the record we agree that 
Attorney Sostarich has established by clear, satisfactory, and 
convincing evidence that he has satisfied all the criteria 
necessary for reinstatement.  We note further that he was 
suspended for a period of 18 months and his license has now been 
under suspension nearly two years.   
¶12 Accordingly, we adopt the referee's findings of fact 
and 
conclusions 
of 
law 
and 
we 
accept 
the 
referee's 
recommendation to reinstate Attorney Sostarich's license to 
practice law in Wisconsin.  We direct Attorney Sostarich to pay 
the costs of this reinstatement proceeding, which total $2022.35 
as of March 2, 2006. 
¶13 IT IS ORDERED that the petition for reinstatement of 
the license of Mark E. Sostarich to practice law in Wisconsin is 
granted, effective the date of this order. 
¶14 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within six months of the 
date of this order Mark E. Sostarich pay to the Office of Lawyer 
Regulation the costs of this proceeding.  If 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 Mark E. Sostarich to practice law in Wisconsin shall 
be suspended until further order of the court. 
¶15 DAVID T. PROSSER and LOUIS B. BUTLER, JR., J.J. did 
not participate.  
No. 
2004AP1911-D   
 
 
 
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