WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT

MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2014

9:45 a.m.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is responsible for supervising the practice of law in the state and

protecting the public from misconduct by lawyers. Lawyers must follow a code of ethics

developed by the Court. When there is an allegation that a lawyer has acted unethically, the

Supreme Court’s Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) investigates, and, if warranted, prosecutes

the attorney. A referee - a court-appointed attorney or reserve judge - hears the discipline cases

and makes recommendations to the Supreme Court. Gerald P. Boyle, the lawyer in this case, has

a practice in Milwaukee.

2014AP482-D OLR v. Gerald P. Boyle

In this lawyer discipline case, Atty. Gerald P. Boyle appeals a referee’s recommendation

for a 60-day suspension of his law license and the imposition of full costs, which totaled

$22,051.47 before appeal. The referee found Boyle committed six counts of misconduct; Boyle

denies many of the allegations and contends that he should receive, at most, a public reprimand.

Some background: Boyle has held a Wisconsin law license since 1962. He has been

privately reprimanded three times – in 2002, 2009 and 2012. This case involves two grievants:

Boyle represented D.P. in a consumer fraud case, giving rise to five of the counts; the sixth count

involves representation of R.G. in a criminal case.

D.P., a Waukesha County resident, paid a total of $191,580 to galleries in three states for

John Lennon memorabilia, including a letter and sketches supposedly created by Lennon and a

microphone said to have been used in recording parts of the album “Imagine.” The items were

certified as authentic by the out-of-state galleries, but the items were later found to be counterfeit

or worthless. D.P. hired an attorney who helped recover $60,295 from the original $191,580

purchase relating to the microphone, leaving $131,285 worth of “John Lennon” sketches and

notes.

An ink specialist referred D.P. to Boyle, with whom the specialist had worked on another

unrelated matter. In November 2009, D.P. sought legal representation from Boyle, who initially

told D.P. that he would handle the purchases with three galleries for a flat fee of $25,000. Boyle

ultimately collected $65,000 from D.P., which Boyle deposited in his firm’s operating account

instead of a trust account. Boyle also did not prepare a written fee agreement, the referee found.

D.P. contends, and the referee found, that Boyle did not timely respond to D.P.’s calls

and inquiries, failed to subpoena certain records as promised, allowed the statute of limitations

to expire on many of the claims, and failed to take meaningful action on others.

Boyle generally argues that his efforts, which included filing a federal lawsuit against one

of the out-of-state galleries and arranging for another lawyer to help D.P. with a creditor’s claim

during another gallery’s bankruptcy, satisfied his professional obligations to his client.

In R.G.’s case, R.G. paid a total of $19,000 to Boyle’s law firm in anticipation of Boyle’s

representation. The referee found that Boyle deposited the funds in his firm’s operating account

instead of a trust account. Boyle admits to some, but not all, of the misconduct determined by

the referee to have occurred. Boyle objects to any sanction beyond a public reprimand. The

Supreme Court is expected to determine if Boyle violated the code of ethics for lawyers, and if

so, what the penalty shall be.