Court finds Milwaukee lawyer's 'lack of diligence' warrants license suspension.

Byline: Michaela Paukner, mpaukner@wislawjournal.com

A Milwaukee criminal-defense attorney will lose his law license for five months in his latest punishment from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Peter Kovac received the suspensionon Wednesday for seven counts of misconduct related to failing to work in his clients' best interests and failing to cooperate with the Office of Lawyer Regulation's investigation.

A referee in Kovac's most recent case saidKovac's conduct showed either a disregard or inability to comply with his obligations to his clients. Kovac had previously blamedsome of the violations on medical issues he was having.The referee wrote that if Kovac was having serious health trouble, he had an obligation to seek help in order to protect the public.

The refereecalled Kovac "astonishingly cavalier" about his obligation to comply with the OLR, and four of the seven misconduct charges detailed in Wednesday's opinion related to his lack of cooperation. The referee believed the five-month suspension was an appropriate punishment.

Kovac appealed the recommendation, saying it was an "unduly harsh sanction" built upon his previous punishments. His lost his law license for90 days in 2016, and hewaspublicly reprimanded by the state Supreme Court in 2008 and 2012.

He saidsome of the misconduct occurred before his 90-day sanction was imposed. Becausehe had no...