Disbarred Mequon lawyer who still owes restitution denied return to practice
A disbarred Mequon lawyer who stole more than $737,000 from his former firm and still owes untold thousands of dollars to it and former clients was denied reinstatement Wednesday by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Brian Mularski, 43, argued that if he could practice law again, he could make more money to pay restitution. But the court found that he had not met one of the strict requirements for getting his license back — showing just how much he's paid back to which victims.
Mularski voluntarily gave up his law license in 2010, a year after the Office of Lawyer Regulation charged him with 13 counts of misconduct and was investigating eight other grievances against him.
In 2012, he was charged with felony theft in a business setting, for the embezzlement from his former firm, Eisenberg, Riley and Zimmerman, and pleaded guilty.
He avoided prison at his sentencing in January 2013 after convincing the judge he would make further payments on top of the $238,000 he had paid via a family loan and other non-lawyer earnings.
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In 2017, not having made much headway on his various restitutions, Mularski asked to rejoin the bar. The OLR opposed his reinstatement, and after a public hearing, a referee recommended denial as well.
The referee concluded that nothing at the proceeding "gave any inkling that there was a plan to commence repayment."
Mularski admits he hasn't provided a proper accounting or satisfied his restitution requirements, but claims it is impossible to create the required accounting out of the incomplete records available.
He was ordered to have no contact with his former firm, and some of his other clients have been repaid from a fund that covers victims of unethical lawyers. Mularski says its just impossible to know exactly how much he owes and to whom.
"We disagree," the court wrote. " The record confirms that this is a challenging problem to unravel, but also demonstrates that there is more Attorney Mularski could do to respond to this court's order and the requirement for reinstatement."
Now Mularski can add another bill to whatever amount he still owes to former clients — the $6,000 costs of processing his reinstatement petition.
According to court records, he also faces a $22,000 judgment in favor of We Energies.
Mularski, who was serving in the Wisconsin National Guard at the time of his sentencing, now operates a business calledM5 Defense, Inc. Its website shows a military helicopter firing rockets and says the firm provides advice on government procurement and military sales, as well as drone video services.