Opinion ID: 1578886
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: counts six through nine

Text: ¶ 11. The OLD complaint alleged, and Jaconi now stipulates, that on November 28, 2001, T.O. hired Jaconi to represent her in municipal court in DePere on charges of operating while intoxicated, operating with a prohibited blood alcohol content, obstruction, and operating after suspension. Jaconi appeared with T.O. at her initial appearance at which she entered a not guilty plea. At that time, T.O. Informed Jaconi that her primary concern was with the OWI charge; he assured her that he would get that charge reduced. T.O. paid Jaconi $250 as half payment of the flat fee of $500 he had agreed to accept to represent her. ¶ 12. T.O. called Jaconi numerous times over the next two-week period but received no response from him until December 13, 2001, when he called and asked her to meet him that evening. She did so and Jaconi again assured her that he would get the OWI charge reduced; he also stated that he could get the other charges dropped. At that meeting, T.O. wrote Jaconi a check for the remaining $250 on his agreed upon fee. According to T.O., Jaconi promised to provide her a receipt for those payments and stated that he would call her with respect to the status of her case. However, between December 13, 2001, and January 3, 2002, Jaconi failed to respond to T.O.'s numerous telephone calls. ¶ 13. On January 3, 2002, Jaconi telephoned T.O. and told her that her trial was scheduled for that evening. T.O. had not received any prior notice of that trial date; nor had she received anything in writing from Jaconi about the scheduled trial. Jaconi told T.O. that she would be pleading no contest to the OWI charge. When T.O. again told him that she did not want to plead no contest to the OWI count, Jaconi told her that he would talk to the prosecuting attorney and get back to her before the trial. He did not do so. Instead, on January 3, 2002, Jaconi appeared in municipal court on T.O.'s behalf and entered a plea of no contest for her to the OWI charge. She was not present at that hearing. ¶ 14. As part of the penalty for the OWI violation, T.O.'s driver's license was suspended for seven months. Jaconi, however, did not inform T.O. about the seven month suspension or about the disposition of her OWI case, and despite her repeated telephone calls to him after January 3, 2002, Jaconi never responded. ¶ 15. On February 28, 2002, T.O. sent a certified letter to Jaconi dismissing him as her attorney and requesting an accounting for the $500 fee she had paid. She also asked for copies of all the paperwork pertaining to her case. That certified letter was returned unclaimed. ¶ 16. After the OWI charge against her had been resolved in municipal court, T.O. continued to drive unaware that her license had been suspended for seven months. Subsequently, she received a citation for operating after suspension. ¶ 17. Based on this admitted course of conduct, the OLR compplaint charged Jaconi with an additional four counts of misconduct, to which he now stipulates: COUNT SIX: By failing to maintain proper communication with T.O., Jaconi failed to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information, in violation of SCR 20:1.4(a). COUNT SEVEN: By failing to adequately explain to T.O. her plea options so she could make informed decisions regarding her representation, Jaconi failed to explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed decisions regarding the representation, in violation of SCR 20:1.4(b). COUNT EIGHT: By failing to abide by T.O.'s decision not to plead no contest to the OWI charge, Jaconi failed to abide by a client's decisions concerning the objectives of representation and consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued, in violation of SCR 20:1.2(a). COUNT NINE: By failing to provide T.O. with documents relating to the disposition of her case, and by failing to provide T.O. with an accounting of the $500 she paid him, Jaconi failed to take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client's interests, in violation of SCR 20:1.16(d).