Consensual private and public reprimands

(1) An agreement between the director and an attorney to the imposition of a private or public reprimand shall be in a writing dated and signed by the respondent and the director and shall contain a summary of the factual nature of the misconduct and an enumeration of the rules of professional conduct for attorneys that were violated. (2) The director shall request the appointment of a referee by providing in confidence to the clerk of the supreme court the names of the grievant and respondent, the address of the respondent's principal office, and the date of the consent agreement. An available referee should be selected from the panel provided in SCR 21.08, based on the location of the respondent's principal office. The chief justice or, in his or her absence, the chief justice's delegee shall appoint the referee. The director shall submit the agreement, accompanied by the respondent's public and private disciplinary history, to the appointed referee for review and approval. The director shall send a copy of the agreement to the grievant. The grievant may submit a written response to the director within 30 days after being notified of the agreement, and the director shall submit the response to the referee. The respondent and the director may submit comments to the referee regarding the grievant's response. The agreement, the grievant's response, and the comments of the respondent and director shall be considered by the referee in confidence. (3) If the referee approves the agreement, the referee shall issue the reprimand in writing to the respondent and send a copy to the director. A private reprimand shall be confidential. 166 (4) If the referee determines that the agreement is not supported by sufficient facts or that the sanction falls outside the range of sanctions appropriate in similar cases, the referee shall not approve the agreement. The referee shall, in those cases, inform the director, the grievant, and the respondent in writing, stating the basis and reasons for disapproval. The director shall then proceed in the matter as the director may consider appropriate. (5) If the respondent does not consent to a reprimand offered by the director or the respondent's consent is unacceptable to the director, the director may file a complaint with the supreme court alleging the same factual misconduct and seeking the same reprimand to which consent was sought.