Well, sorry for the delay. I have finally posted a copy of the letter of complaint which I recently sent to a state attorney disciplinary agency – there is a page for it in the menu at the top, you can just click here if you want to open in a separate window. This is a short one because of the new material.
When Bad Lawyers Happen To Good People
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Archive for ‘Ethics & Professional Misconduct’
Ethics Complaints Part 2
In one of my recent entries, Ethics Complaints Against Lawyers, I reported that I made an ethics complaint against an attorney. In this instance, I was not the wronged party, but had set out the situation to the State Bar Counsel on behalf of a friend of mine. I received a written response back from State Bar Counsel, and I am not happy (but I am also not surprised). I was told that they needed more information and that they needed to receive the information directly from the wronged party. In my original letter, I had provided the name of my friend and her contact information. I sent her a copy of my letter to the State Bar and that was indicated at the end of my letter. When I called the office of State Bar Counsel, I was told it was “policy” not to speak to anyone who had written a letter and that I could only speak with the assistant, who was of no assistance whatsoever. She even had the nerve to ask me “why can’t your friend just do this herself; is she disabled or something?”
It is absolutely clear to me that this particular State Bar Association doesn’t really want to stamp out unethical behavior by attorneys. They will not even share the complaint with the attorney in question or pursue any investigation or action if my friend doesn’t tell them herself. I have informed the State Bar that serious unethical behavior, including crimes such as failure to pay wages, payroll and worker’s compensation taxes, has occurred, and they do not care because it didn’t happen to me.
In this particular situation, the State Bar Association, which all lawyers in the state are required to belong to and pay dues, is also the organization that pursues discipline against lawyers. There is not an arm’s length relationship between the governing body and the membership. In short, there is a conflict of interest!
I’m going to pursue this matter in some alternative ways. One of the things I will do is post a copy of my letter on this site in the next few days. I will black out the names (to protect the guilty), but I would like you to see the kind of behavior I am concerned about and how I constructed my letter of complaint. It may be helpful to someone out there who is considering filing a grievance against a lawyer in their state.
I’ll be checking in more frequently now that the holidays are over and 2010 is seriously upon us.
Public Mistrusts Lawyers As Much As Ever
According to a recent publication by the Center for Professional Responsibility of the American Bar Association, the public mistrusts lawyers as much as ever, especially when it comes to value and efficiency. In other words, we think lawyers cost a lot of money and that they spend a lot of time running up our bill without producing much in the way of results. A Gallup poll in 2008 found that only 18 percent of the people surveyed would rate the honesty or ethical standards of lawyers as “high” or “very high.” Physicians, on the other hand, garnered a rating of 64 percent (also somewhat disappointing). Another survey found that 69 percent agreed that lawyers are more interested in making money than serving their clients, and 57 percent believe that lawyers are more concerned with self-promotion than the best interests of their clients. This sort of begs the question of why any mother would want their son (or daughter) to grow up and be a lawyer!
I put these statistics out there not only as food for thought but also to answer my critics. My, I think thou dost protest too much!
Hopefully, the holidays have been pleasant for all of you and 2010 will bring positive outcomes. To the extent that your outcomes tend to the negative and that lawyers contribute to those outcomes, stay tuned.
