Attorney William Sulton is out at the Social Development Commission. In an email Thursday, he said he was no longer the embattled organization’s volunteer legal counsel.
Sulton represented the Social Development Commission, or SDC, in lawsuits, served as a spokesperson and advised the board through the agency’s April 2024 closure, multiple rounds of board leadership changes and its ongoing efforts to restart services and restore funding.
“He’s put in a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy, and just has been extremely valuable to SDC,” said Jorge Franco, the interim CEO and board chair of SDC. “In fact, without William, SDC would not exist today.”
Sulton sent an email to all board members on Oct. 12 resigning and requesting SDC find other legal counsel moving forward, according to Commissioner Pam Fendt.
Sulton declined to further comment on his departure.
Turmoil before resignation
Franco said Sulton resigned out of frustration with the “toxic” behavior of commissioners Walter Lanier and Fendt, who have publicly criticized the board’s leadership.
Last month, Lanier made public a memo in which he requested that the board vote on removing Franco as board chair and retaining additional legal counsel with expertise in “nonprofit board governance and liability.”
“I don’t make decisions for the board, I provide opinions that the board finds either helpful or not helpful,” Sulton said at the time. “Mr. Lanier thinks that my advice is not helpful and would like to have another attorney, which, again, is fine. I serve at the pleasure of the board.”
Diane Robinson, executive director and chief operating officer of SDC, calls Sulton’s departure a major loss.
“He’s gotten to the place where he’s fed up, to where he’s walking away from this,” Robinson said.
Sulton’s work at SDC
As a civil rights and public interest attorney who runs his own practice, Sulton Law, Sulton started volunteering his services with the anti-poverty agency in late 2022 when longtime attorney James Hall Jr. was preparing to retire.
Sulton also serves as the general counsel and chair of legal redress for the NAACP Milwaukee Branch and is board president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.
He presented on SDC’s behalf at the public hearing with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families on its community action status earlier this year.
In September, he defended SDC in a money judgment lawsuit filed by three weatherization vendors.
Sulton submitted motions to withdraw as SDC counsel in a wage claims lawsuit from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and the Wisconsin Department of Justice and a lawsuit brought by information technology firm, TriShulla, LLC.
Going forward, SDC will continue to work with other attorneys who have already been assisting, Franco said.
“It’s not our first rodeo, as it relates to legal work,” Franco said. “But what we’re losing is the heart of our legal representation, and William has the low-income people of Milwaukee County at heart.”
SDC’s next board meeting is scheduled for Oct. 30.
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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