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Milwaukee County officials dumped a prominent local labor attorney from a case on Tuesday after learning he had recently been ticketed for soliciting a prostitute.
Richard Saks, a partner with the Milwaukee-based Hawks Quindel, was arrested on July 17 when Milwaukee police saw him embracing a 26-year-old woman in the front seat of an SUV at 3240 W. Hadley St., according to a police report.
The woman — who had crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia in her purse — said the two were getting ready to have sex, the report said. They had chosen that location, she told officers, so they would "not do this in front of any children." They'd known one another, she said, for four years.
Saks was issued a citation for loitering and soliciting a prostitute. He has since paid the fine.
"Mr. Saks is no longer working for the Milwaukee County Board," County Board spokesman Bill Zaferossaid in a statement late Tuesday.
The board had recently hired Hawks Quindel to conduct a review of the new state law slashing its power and budget and possibly the pay of supervisors.
Board members sought legal advice because of what they say are ambiguities in the measure, which most of them opposed. The review also could lead to a legal challenge to some provisions of the law.
County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic said she learned of Saks' arrest for solicitation a few weeks ago.
"Immediately upon receipt of the information is when I requested that he no longer represent the County Board," Dimitrijevic said in an email to No Quarter.
Zaferos said the board will still use Saks' firm to assist with the new law. Saks had already been active on the case. Shortly before supervisors voted to hire Hawks Quindel, he had written the board to list all of the clients his firm had that were suing the county.
Kathy Charlton, a lawyer at Hawks Quindel, issued a statement on behalf of the firm saying it supported Saks as he took the steps "to deal with this situation directly and move beyond." She said the incident wouldn't affect the quality of the firm's work.
Saks had previously sent an email to No Quarter saying he was sorry for his actions.
"I have paid the fine for the citation and deeply regret my actions," Saks said. "I am focused on addressing underlying personal issues; apologizing to family, friends, colleagues and clients; and working to restore their trust."
Saks has been at the center of a number of recent legal battles.
Most prominently, he represents the workers at Palermo's Pizza in their high-profile labor dispute with the company.
Saks also is the attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People andVoces de la Frontera, a Milwaukee immigrants rights group, in a lawsuit aimed at blocking the Republicans' voter ID law. He previously went to court on behalf of 9to5 — which represents working women — to back Milwaukee's mandatory paid sick leave law.
Saks had worked for years for the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, the union representing Milwaukee teachers.
Hawks Quindel is considered one of the region's top labor law firms, representing everyone from the state firefighters association to the transit workers union to the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild, the union for newsroom employees at the Journal Sentinel.
The Journal Sentinel obtained the police report on Saks through an open records request.
According to the report, Saks was with a woman who was on parole. She had pleaded guilty in 2008 to a felony count of child abuse.
The woman described herself as a friend of Saks'. The 59-year-old lawyer had little to say to the cops, except that he didn't live in that area on the north side and that he was married but not to the woman with whom he was arrested.
The amount of his fine was not included in the records provided by the Milwaukee Police Department.
Milwaukee police officers found a metal tube in her purse that they said could be used to smoke crack cocaine.
While awaiting booking, she told police that she also had a small bag of crack cocaine hidden in her purse. Officers then turned up a corner-cut baggie with 0.18 grams of crack in it.
Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Anthony White reviewed the case, according to the police reports, and decided not to charge the woman.
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