Posts tagged ‘grievance’

Ethics Complaint – The End

By htsyl, 18 September, 2010, No Comment

Well, I am not at all surprised that despite the allegations set forth in the ethics complaint I filed against an attorney who let a client he snared from a women’s shelter work for him for four years without pay has been DISMISSED by the powers that be. This is the body of the letter:

The Office of Bar Counsel has considered your grievance regarding Attorney X. After reviewing the information received and communicating with Jane, Attorney X’s former client, it has been determined that any professional misconduct in this matter could not be proved by “clear and convincing evidence,” which is the standard of proof required in disciplinary cases…Accordingly, the grievance has been dismissed and, as such, this matter is closed. The decision by our office, however, does not affect any private remedies that might be available to you…Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of this office.

And that, my friends, is that. I have encouraged my friend to continue following up with the Labor Board regarding her back wages as this is a “private remedy” that is available to her and which could put some money in her pocket (unless Attorney X declares bankruptcy). Even if she wanted to retain an attorney to sue Attorney X for malpractice, Attorney X does not carry malpractice insurance! It is highly unlikely that she could even find a lawyer willing to take on Attorney X in a lawsuit, but even if there was a lawyer who practiced in this area, taking a case where there is no insurance policy to go after is a loser.

So, unless the Labor Board catches up with him, and he has to pay Jane some back wages (at the rate of minimum wage because there was no agreement as to what her hourly rate of pay should have been), Attorney X has got a pretty good setup. He gets clients referred to him by the women’s shelter. If they can’t pay for his services and they have any skills at all, he has slave labor at his disposal. He can’t get sued for malpractice because he doesn’t carry insurance and he can’t get disbarred because it’s “too hard to prove.”

Frankly, my impression of the position taken by the disciplinary board is this — if they think they can get away with not pursuing the matter, and if the victim is low profile enough, and the attorney hasn’t done something “outrageous” like stealing client monies from the trust fund, they just put it in the “lack of clear and convincing evidence” shoebox, knowing that the person will have nowhere to turn for a “private” or “civil” remedy, and it’s just over.

It’s just wrong.

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Ethics Complaints Part 4

By htsyl, 12 February, 2010, 2 Comments

I am happy to report that I received a call from my friend — the one on whose behalf I filed an ethics complaint (see the complaint here) — and she has been contacted by an investigator with the governing body and they are going forward with my complaint! She did send the governing body a letter stating that everything that I had alleged in the complaint was true. She has been told by the investigator that the complaint will be opened in my name against the lawyer, so as to “protect” her while she is still working in the legal community. This is a little odd, since the initial response of the governing body to my written complaint was that they did not want to open a complaint if I was not the injured party. Such is the path of hypocrisy and bureaucracy on the way to justice (we hope).

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Ethics Complaints Part 2

By htsyl, 10 January, 2010, No Comment

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.

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