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	Court Reprimands Lawyer Who Represented Victim, Then Defendant in Clergy Sex Abuse Case By Bruce Vielmetti Milwaukee Journal Sentinel December 22, 2010 http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/112264974.html In a case of what it called egregious conflict of interest, the Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a Milwaukee lawyer who represented a nun charged with sexual battery years after consulting with one her victims. Nikola Kostich must also pay more than $9,700 in costs, and take 10 hours of ethics instruction over the next year, the court ruled Tuesday. Kostich (Wisconsin, '70) had argued that he had never really agreed to represent the victim, but had only done a preliminary interview and research when the victim inquired about bringing a civil suit against the nun, Norma Giannini, in 2007. Kostich determined the statute of limitations prevented such a suit at the time. In 2006, after learning Ginanni had been out of state for years, the same victim contacted police and she was charged in December 2006. Kostich took her case without first checking with the victim, who had shared intimate details of his abuse, as well as his therapy records, with Kostich in 1997. The victim objected, then filed a complaint with the Office of Lawyer Regulation. Giannini eventually was convicted of molesting the victim, and another man, when they were students at a Milwaukee Catholic school in the 1960s. Kostich argued that he had never signed a retainer agreement with the victim and never opened a formal file. But the court found such acts don't determine the obligation. "The existence of a lawyer/client relationship is determined principally by the reasonable expectations of the person seeking the lawyer's advice". In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson said she would have ordered a hearing at which the parties could argue why Kostich shouldn't be suspended for 60 days.
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