Rule 108 Matters involving related pending civil or criminal litigation

If someone files a complaint against a lawyer, that complaint still moves forward even if there's a related criminal or civil court case dealing with similar issues. The disciplinary process doesn't automatically stop or wait just because another lawsuit or criminal case covers some of the same ground.

The only way to pause the complaint process is if a special three-person panel decides there's good reason to do so. This panel is set up under a different rule (SCR 105). Without their approval, the grievance keeps moving through the system on its own timeline, separate from whatever is happening in the other case.

This means a lawyer can't use an ongoing lawsuit or criminal case as an automatic excuse to delay facing a complaint about their conduct. The two processes are treated as separate matters unless someone specifically asks the panel to pause one of them and gives a solid reason why.