Legal help: where to take a complaint against a lawyer

Filing a complaint against a lawyer is nothing to be undertaken lightly. Although most complaints against attorneys are dismissed without action, there is a process to you can enlist, if you believe that your case is strong. Methods of complaint filing vary from state to state, but there are several constants that will help you get started.

According to the New York State Attorney General’s office, all lawyers are guided by something called the Code of Professional Responsibility; most state’s Supreme Courts have adopted these or similar standards to govern attorneys’ ethical behavior. Although the initial procedures are private – to protect the practicing lawyer’s ongoing career – decisions can eventually be made public in most complaint cases.

How should you get started? Although state regulations can vary, there are several good rules of thumb that apply in all lawyer complaint filing attempts.

First, you should determine the nature of the violation on the part of the attorney. If you believe that the lawyer has committed a criminal offense, this is very different from a simple ethical violation. According to the advocacy group Court Help, suspected criminal activity on the part of a lawyer should be referred to your local District Attorney’s office, or, in rare cases, the local or state police.

For every other matter, which covers most ethical violations, there is a basic procedure that will help you file your complaint. The bar association of Hawaii outlines the standards of a complaint by saying that all such correspondence should include as detailed a statement as possible concerning the allegations, plus specific dates of these occurrences, and copies of all related documents and papers. Rounding up this information before sending your complaint anywhere is a sound rule of thumb, no matter where you live.

You can now check if your state’s bar association accepts complaints against their own attorneys. If complaining to a state bar association about a lawyer sounds like the fox guarding the hen house to you, however, you are not alone. Some states, such as Massachusetts, provide an independent “oversight board,” which can process claims against what is commonly called “legal malpractice.” In Virginia, the bar association is aided by public volunteers, who help keep watch over the state’s attorneys with regard to ethics violations. But if you don’t want the bar association investigating their peer’s suspected malfeasance directly, where else can you file your complaint.

Some advocacy groups – folks that form coalitions to help the layman in technical situations – can aid you for little or no cost. These groups vary from state to state; in the Age of the Internet, however, it is normally not hard to locate a group that will at least give you general guidance on how to proceed with your complaint against a lawyer.

Private groups like the aforementioned Court Help, and the Lawyer Disciplinary Agency, serve as watchdogs for the legal profession. These types of organizations can assist you – for a fee, of course – and offer counsel independent of a state’s bar association. (Since some folks are understandably distrustful of lawyers investigating lawyers, soliciting the help of a watchdog group is a good step; however, because up to 90% of all lawyer complaints are eventually dismissed, you may want to consider that any money you spend processing the complaint may ultimately go to waste.)

It is important to keep in mind that although many states’ bar associations may process complaints, those entities will not normally provide you with legal counsel on the matter. Ironically, you may have to hire a lawyer to pursue the complaint against your first lawyer!

By first identifying the nature of your complaint, then collecting as much information and documentation related to the matter as you can, you will prepare yourself adequately. Figuring out where to file your complaint is the tricky part; exploring all your options, such as the state bar association, the state attorney general’s office, and any independent groups that can assist you, you will find that filing a complaint against an attorney can eventually lead to victory, if you follow the basic steps and have a lot of patience.