Title: Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility v. Keith E. Broadnax
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 1998AP001904-D
State: Wisconsin
Issuer: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Date: May 6, 1999

SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
 
Case No.: 
98-1904-D 
 
 
Complete Title 
of Case: 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings  
Against Keith E. Broadnax, Attorney at  
Law. 
 
Board of Attorneys Professional  
Responsibility,  
 
Complainant, 
 
v. 
Keith E. Broadnax,  
 
Respondent.  
 
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST BROADNAX 
 
 
Opinion Filed: 
May 6, 1999 
Submitted on Briefs: 
 
Oral Argument: 
 
 
 
Source of APPEAL 
 
COURT: 
 
 
COUNTY: 
 
 
JUDGE: 
 
 
 
JUSTICES: 
 
Concurred: 
 
 
Dissented: 
 
 
Not Participating:  
 
 
ATTORNEYS: 
 
 
No. 
98-1904-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. 98-1904-D 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN               :        
        
 
 
 
 
IN SUPREME COURT 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against Keith E. Broadnax, Attorney at 
Law. 
Board of Attorneys Professional 
Responsibility,  
 
 
Complainant, 
 
v.  
Keith E. Broadnax, 
 
 
Respondent. 
FILED 
 
MAY 6, 1999 
 
Marilyn L. Graves 
Clerk of Supreme Court 
Madison, WI 
 
 
 
ATTORNEY 
disciplinary 
proceeding.  Attorney’s 
license 
suspended.  
¶1 
PER CURIAM   We review the report of the referee 
recommending that the license of Keith E. Broadnax to practice 
law in Wisconsin be suspended for two years as discipline for 
professional misconduct. That misconduct included his continued 
use of cocaine, in violation of conditions previously imposed on 
him when his license was suspended in 1997 for professional 
misconduct, converting to his own use funds belonging to his law 
firm, obtaining law firm funds by misrepresentation, and taking 
property of an employee of the firm without permission. In 
No. 
98-1904-D 
 
2 
addition to the suspension, the referee recommended that 
conditions 
be 
imposed 
on 
the 
reinstatement 
of 
Attorney 
Broadnax’s license directed to his rehabilitation from drug 
addiction and recovery from a medical disorder.  
¶2 
We 
determine 
that 
the 
seriousness 
of 
Attorney 
Broadnax’s 
professional 
misconduct 
warrants 
the 
license 
suspension recommended by the referee and the imposition of 
conditions directed to his rehabilitation. By reverting to the 
use of cocaine following the earlier license suspension, he has 
demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to represent others in 
the legal system. Moreover, his conduct with property of the law 
firm where he was employed shows that he cannot be entrusted 
with funds and property of those he might represent in a 
professional capacity.  
¶3 
Attorney Broadnax was admitted to practice law in 
Wisconsin in 1981 and practices in Milwaukee. He has been 
disciplined twice previously. In November 1989 the Board of 
Attorneys 
Professional 
Responsibility 
(Board) 
privately 
reprimanded 
him 
for 
failing 
to 
file 
findings 
of 
fact, 
conclusions of law, and the judgment in a divorce matter timely 
and for misrepresenting to the Board during its investigation 
that he had filed those documents. The court suspended his 
license for 90 days, effective March 12, 1997, as discipline for 
neglect of client matters, failure to communicate adequately to 
a client the basis of his fee, failure to return an unearned 
fee, 
and 
failure 
to 
cooperate 
with 
the 
Board 
in 
its 
investigation. Disciplinary Proceedings Against Broadnax, 208 
No. 
98-1904-D 
 
3 
Wis. 2d 120, 559 N.W.2d 595 (1997). In the latter case, the 
court ordered him to comply for three years with conditions 
directed to his continued treatment for and rehabilitation from 
cocaine and cannabis dependence and treatment for a mental 
disorder. Those conditions included abstinence from alcohol and 
controlled 
substances, 
periodic drug 
screens, 
and regular 
reports to the Board of his treatment progress.  
¶4 
When Attorney Broadnax failed to file an answer to the 
Board’s complaint in the instant proceeding and thereafter 
pleaded no contest to the allegations of the Board’s complaint, 
the referee, Attorney Rose Marie Baron, made findings of fact 
accordingly. The first of those concerned Attorney Broadnax’s 
use of cocaine. On July 22, 1997, Attorney Broadnax underwent a 
random 
urine 
screening 
at 
the 
request 
of 
the 
Board’s 
administrator, and that screening tested positive for cocaine. 
Thereafter, Attorney Broadnax acknowledged that he had used 
cocaine. The referee concluded that Attorney Broadnax thereby 
committed a criminal act that reflects adversely on his honesty, 
trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, in 
violation of SCR 20:8.4(b), and that his failure to abstain from 
the use of a controlled substance violated this court’s license 
suspension order of 1997, contrary to SCR 20:8.4(f).1  
                     
1  SCR 20:8.4 provides, in pertinent part: Misconduct 
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:  
 . . .  
No. 
98-1904-D 
 
4 
¶5 
The remainder of the referee’s findings concerned 
Attorney Broadnax’s conduct with the law firm where he was 
employed. At an unspecified time, Attorney Broadnax advised a 
client of the firm to make fee payments in a divorce matter 
payable to him rather than to the firm. He then cashed those 
checks, totaling $725, did not turn the money over to the firm, 
and converted it to his own use. In July 1997, he received two 
checks from an insurer as part of the settlement of a client’s 
claim. Those checks were made payable to him, one for $200 as 
the firm’s fee and one for $12.28 for the costs incurred by the 
firm in the matter, and Attorney Broadnax endorsed those checks, 
did not turn the proceeds over to the firm, and converted them 
to his own use. Also in July 1997, Attorney Broadnax reported to 
the firm that a check it had given him for reimbursement in the 
amount of $28.61 had been destroyed and asked for a replacement 
check. He received it, cashed both it and the original check, 
and retained the proceeds of both.  
¶6 
In September of 1997, an employee of the law firm 
reported that several compact discs valued at $125 had been 
taken without the owner’s permission. Shortly after Attorney 
                                                                  
(b) commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the 
lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in 
other respects;  
 . . .  
(f) violate a statute, supreme court rule, supreme court 
order or supreme court decision regulating the conduct of 
lawyers;  
No. 
98-1904-D 
 
5 
Broadnax was terminated by the law firm in September 1997, he 
acknowledged to an attorney in that firm that he had taken those 
compact discs. The referee concluded that in each of the 
foregoing 
matters, 
Attorney 
Broadnax 
engaged 
in 
conduct 
involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, in 
violation of SCR 20:8.4(c).2  
¶7 
As discipline for that professional misconduct, the 
referee recommended that Attorney Broadnax’s license to practice 
law be suspended for two years and that the court require him to 
submit to random drug tests for a period of one year prior to 
reinstatement 
of 
his 
license. 
In 
addition, 
the 
referee 
recommended that prior to reinstatement, Attorney Broadnax be 
required to establish that he has his drug addiction and a 
medical disorder under control. Finally, the referee recommended 
that Attorney Broadnax be required to pay the costs of this 
proceeding.  
¶8 
We 
adopt 
the 
referee’s 
findings 
of 
fact 
and 
conclusions of law and determine that the recommended license 
suspension and imposition of conditions are the appropriate 
response to Attorney Broadnax’s professional misconduct.  
                     
2  SCR 20:8.4 provides, in pertinent part: Misconduct 
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:  
 . . .  
(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit 
or misrepresentation;  
No. 
98-1904-D 
 
6 
¶9 
IT IS ORDERED that the license of Keith E. Broadnax to 
practice law in Wisconsin is suspended for two years, effective 
June 21, 1999.  
¶10 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Keith E. Broadnax comply 
with the conditions recommended by the referee in this matter.  
¶11 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date 
of this order, Keith E. Broadnax 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 his inability to 
pay the costs within that time, the license of Keith E. Broadnax 
to practice law in Wisconsin shall remain suspended until 
further order of the court.  
¶12 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Keith E. Broadnax comply 
with the provisions of SCR 22.26 concerning the duties of a 
person whose license to practice law in Wisconsin has been 
suspended.  
 
 
1