On Friday, November 25, 2022, the Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin ruled on the petition for consensual license revocation of Cottage Grove attorney Brett R. Blomme.
The case is styled ‘Office of Lawyer Regulation v. Brett R. Blomme’ with case no. 2022AP998-D.
The charges cited SCR 20:8.4(b) which states that:
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.
The rules of professional conduct can be found here.
The following are as alleged and summarized from the filing:
Blomme allegedly engaged in misconduct by having committed two counts of the criminal act of distributing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2) to which he pled guilty. In December 2021, Blomme was convicted and sentenced in federal court to 108 months in prison on each count, followed by 20 years of supervised release. He was serving as a Milwaukee County Children’s Court Judge at the time of the misconduct. Blomme formally resigned on September 1, 2021.
Blomme’s crimes were “extraordinarily serious, by their nature and by virtue of the position Blomme held”, and “his misconduct brought tremendous disrepute to the legal profession and the courts”, according to the Office of Lawyer Regulation.
On February 16, 2022, the Court suspended Blomme’s law license until further order of the court.
The filing states that:
‘In his petition for consensual revocation, AttorneyBlomme asserts that he is seeking the consensual revocation of his license freely, voluntarily, and knowingly. He states that he cannot successfully defend himself against the allegations of misconduct set forth above and more fully described in the OLR’s summary. He understands that he is giving up his right to contact the allegations referenced in the OLR’s misconduct summary. He acknowledges that if the court grants the petition and revokes his license, he will be subject to the requirements of SCR 22.26 and, should he ever wish to seek the reinstatement of his license, the reinstatement procedure set forth in SCRs22.29-22.33.’
The filing continues:
‘Given the egregious nature of Attorney Blomme’s misconduct, anything less than a revocation of his law license would unduly depreciate the seriousness of his misconduct, fail to protect the public and the court system from further misconduct, and inadequately deter similar misbehavior by other attorneys. Revocation is clearly deserved.’
Accordingly, the Court ruled against Blomme in relation to his criminal conviction.
The Order reads:
“IT IS ORDERED that the petition for consensual license revocation is granted.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the license of Brett R. Blomme to practice law in Wisconsin is revoked, effective the date of this order.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, to the extent he has not already done so, Brett R. Blomme shall comply with the provisions of SCR 22.26 concerning the duties of a person whose license to practice law in Wisconsin has been revoked.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the administrative suspension of Brett R. Blomme’s license to practice law in Wisconsin, due to his failure to pay state bar dues and failure to comply with trust account certification requirements, will remain in effect until each reason for the administrative suspension has been rectified pursuant to SCR 22.28(1).”
Mr. Brett R. Blomme had been licensed in Wisconsin.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
