File ethics complaint against lawyer

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Please see the Attorney Complaint Information brochure for answers to common questions about the grievance process English - Spanish. If you have questions about the grievance process, call the Grievance Information Helpline at If you are a client and have a problem with your lawyer, first try to talk with him or her.

Many times these problems can best be handled outside of the attorney grievance system. The State Bar of Texas' attorney grievance system cannot act as a liaison between you and the lawyer, nor can it:.

The above concerns must be handled in another forum, separate from the State Bar's lawyer grievance system. If you are concerned with the fee arrangement established with your lawyer, please know that many local bar associations which are not affiliated with the State Bar have set up fee dispute committees to work with clients and their lawyers. Your local bar association's phone number can be found in your local telephone directory or on the local bar websites section of our website.

The State Bar's toll-free Grievance Information Helpline can also help you determine whether to report the conduct of the lawyer and whether other resources might be beneficial.

The first step in filing a grievance is to complete a grievance form through our online submission system. The forms are also available in pdf format: English or Spanish. Please be sure to send copies of all supporting documents such as letters, pleadings court documents , emails, etc. Every attorney is presumed to be innocent of all allegations until and unless the attorney is found to have acted unethically after a hearing before a panel of a district ethics committee or a special ethics master.

Furthermore, no finding of unethical conduct by either such a panel or special master is final until that finding has also been reviewed and decided by the statewide Disciplinary Review Board and, in some cases, the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

The public hearing list contains basic information about the formal charges against a New Jersey attorney, including the primary person in charge of deciding the matter and the general nature of the charges. The public hearing list is sorted by the district in which the matter is being processed. A list of the secretaries shows this geographic breakdown. Further information about these cases can be obtained directly from the DRB at Anyone wishing to review the public portion of a file in which a formal complaint is filed may do so as follows:.

To minimize the possibility of delay, advanced notification of such visits is recommended. Copies of public records, including formal complaints, District Ethics Committee Manuals, District Fee Arbitration Committee Manuals, are available for the following fees, paid in advance:. For Letter Size Page Generally, where workload permits, copies will be made within seven business days after receipt of payment in full.

You may determine whether a New Jersey attorney has been disciplined from through the last full calendar year. To do so, you must be able to view documents in PDF format. PDF documents preserve the look and feel of the original print documents. This file contains a listing of all public discipline beginning with the most current year shown and ending with the oldest year shown in that file.

Within each year, all attorneys are listed alphabetically. For example, for , the name "Richard R. Thomas III" should be typed in full without a period. When you have found the last listing for the attorney, you will receive a message that "no other" matches of that name have been found. If you type in a name that does not exist in the file, you will receive a message reporting "no matches" of anyone with that name. If you do not know the full name of the attorney, you may use the "Find" feature with the last name only.

However, if you use a common name, such as "Ross", you will have a more difficult time finding the attorney because "Ross" will also find any text, such as "gross" that contain the same letters. On the other hand, if the last name you are searching is somewhat unique such as "Purzycki" , you will find the attorney quite easily. For final public disciplinary histories prior to , please call the Office of Attorney Ethics at For pending disciplinary charges, please see the Public Charges page.

Some disciplined attorneys may share the same name. The Office of Attorney Ethics is not responsible for any coincidence in names of disciplined attorneys and other non-disciplined attorneys as a result of individuals having the same or similar names. Information is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed. The online summaries provided on this Web Site are not intended to be complete records of actions involving attorneys disciplined by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Inquirers should review the full text of any Supreme Court orders or opinions. Further case information can be obtained only from the Supreme Court Clerk's Office at This page contains the complete "State of the Attorney Disciplinary System Report" issued by the Office of Attorney Ethics for the last full calendar year and some prior years. New Jersey attorneys are required to provide new clients with either 1 a written fee agreement or 2 a letter summarizing the fee arrangement.

This must be done when, or shortly after, the attorney first accepts the case. Even if you have been regularly represented by the attorney in the past, you should discuss at the initial conference any questions regarding the fees which the attorney may charge you over the course of the representation, so that there will be a clear understanding by both you and the attorney.

Fee disputes, like any disagreement over the value of services, may be resolved by a lawsuit. As an alternative to such a lawsuit , the Supreme Court of New Jersey has established the fee arbitration process as a low-cost and efficient method to resolve such disputes. District fee arbitration committees throughout New Jersey are maintained by volunteers, with the goal of resolving, through binding arbitration, disputes over attorney fees.

Fee arbitration is impartial and inexpensive, and the arbitration process is typically resolved more quickly than a court case. The fee arbitration process may be less stressful for all involved, since it is less formal and designed to bring matters towards their conclusion in a straightforward, time-saving, and efficient way.

What should you do if your attorney's bill seems unreasonable? As a first step, ask your attorney to explain why the bill is higher than you expected. You may find out the case was more complicated and took more time than you may have expected, or that the costs of the representation were more than anticipated.

Alternatively, the attorney may agree that the bill should be adjusted. An attorney must send you formal notice of your right to seek fee arbitration before the attorney may file a lawsuit to recover a fee. In that notice, the attorney is also required to list the name, address and phone number of the district fee secretary, and to advise you that you have 30 days within which to file the Fee Arbitration Request Form with the district fee secretary. The attorney must wait 30 days from the date of notice before filing the lawsuit.

In most cases, if you promptly choose to take your dispute to arbitration, the attorney must arbitrate. If you do not take steps to file the Attorney Fee Arbitration Request Form within 30 days of receiving pre-action notice from the attorney, you lose your right to seek relief through the fee arbitration system. Send the original and five 5 copies to the district secretary whose office is in the county in where the attorney practices law. Call the district secretary with any questions about the process, or call the Statewide Fee Arbitration Coordinator at ext.

Both parties are required to pay the filing fee. If for any reason you are unable to pay the filing fee, you should call the Fee Arbitration Unit in the Office of Attorney Ethics x to be provided with a separate form to fill out an indigency form to have the filing fee waived.

An attorney barred from participating will nonetheless be bound by the results of the arbitration. Please note that the case may be assigned a file number by the Office of Attorney Ethics, while the paperwork is being processed, so that the case documents may be scanned and entered into the database maintained by that office of all matters submitted for fee arbitration.

The district secretaries, after reviewing the submissions, have the final authority under Court Rules to determine questions about jurisdiction and whether the case should be formally docketed. Once the client chooses to pursue fee arbitration by signing the binding arbitration form, the client has thirty days within which to withdraw the request. Thereafter, the client will be bound by the fee committee's jurisdiction. The attorney is also bound by the proceeding.

Nonetheless, if, at any time, both the client and attorney reach agreement for the dismissal of the fee arbitration, then the matter may be dismissed. Once the client requests fee arbitration, both the attorney and the client agree to comply with the decision of the fee arbitration committee, and they are each bound by the results of the proceeding. While fee committees do not have the authority to award you money damages for legal malpractice, they are required to determine whether the fee charged was reasonable.

In assessing whether the fee was reasonable, the hearing panel must consider the factors specified under Rule of Professional Conduct 1. The attorney must return six copies of the form for filing with the fee secretary, and send an additional copy to the client. If the attorney fails to submit the response or the available supporting documentation within the allowed time limits, the attorney may be barred from further participation in the proceeding or from offering evidence at the hearing.

The burden of proof to demonstrate the nature of the fee agreement and the reasonableness of the fee is on the attorney. All basic documentation necessary to carry this burden should be submitted with the Attorney Fee Response. This documentation includes:. Prior to the hearing, neither the client nor the attorney has the right to make formal inquiries to demand discovery or to take depositions.

If the attorney believes that any other attorney or member of a law firm is responsible for, or entitled to, any portion of the fee, it is the attorney's responsibility to see to it that that attorney or firm is made a party to the arbitration proceeding, and the attorney must notify the district secretary and follow the procedures set forth in the Court Rules. See R. Since , fee arbitration committees have been composed of both attorneys and public members who volunteer their time.

Most fee arbitration cases are heard before panels of three members, composed of two attorneys and one public member or three attorneys, if a public member is unavailable.

All fee committee members are volunteers who have been directly appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to serve without compensation. Arbitration hearings are private and formal; however, they do not require observance of strict courtroom procedure and evidence rules. Ordinarily, both the client and the attorney appear at the hearing without legal representation.

In other words, you do not have to hire another attorney to assist you in the fee arbitration proceeding. You may do so if you choose, nonetheless.

Only the parties and witnesses may attend fee hearings, so if you will need the assistance of any other person for example, a translator or interpreter , you must ask the district secretary in advance, no later than when you receive the hearing notice.

All witnesses have to swear or affirm to tell the truth. The proceedings will typically not be recorded. Be aware that, when you are given notice of the time, date and place for the arbitration hearing, it is your obligation to contact all of your witnesses and to insure their appearance at the hearing.

If the witness is important and will not appear voluntarily, you may ask the fee secretary to issue a subpoena. You may also compel the production of documents through subpoenas. You are responsible for personally serving any subpoenas you request. If you are asking for a subpoena to be issued, you should make that request in writing to the district fee secretary no later than when you receive the hearing notice.

Any documents on which either party will rely at the hearing should be submitted in advance of the hearing typically as attachments to the Request form or the Attorney Response, and provided to the adverse party. The parties should also bring to the hearing all of those materials, such as all letters, documents or records in any form which either party may ask the hearing panel to consider.

The hearing panel or single arbitrator must decide the matter promptly. Except in unusual cases, the Arbitration Determination will be decided within 30 days following conclusion of the hearing.

The parties will receive the written Arbitration Determination by mail from the district fee secretary. The amount of the fee as determined by the fee committee is binding on both parties and it is final. There is no unconditional right to appeal any Arbitration Determination. The Court Rules specify the following as the limited grounds for appeal:.

This limited appeal may be taken within 21 days after receipt of the fee committee's written Arbitration Determination. Hughes Justice Complex, P. The appeal form, properly completed, must be returned to the DRB within 21 days. The timely filing of a Notice of Appeal automatically stops the collection of any judgment obtained based upon the fee committee's Arbitration Determination.

All limited appeals are considered by the DRB on the written record. The decision of the DRB on any appeal is final. Absent compelling reasons, the Board will not consider untimely requests for, or returns of, Notice of Appeal forms.

If the Arbitration Determination directs that the attorney must pay a specified sum to the client, the attorney is required to make such payment within 30 days of receipt of the Arbitration Determination unless the matter is on appeal. Without a hearing being conducted, the parties may also reach agreement by Stipulation of Settlement to resolve the fee dispute.

In either case, if the attorney fails to make the payment that is owed to the client, the client should contact the Office of Attorney Ethics ext. After the same day period within which payment must be made, or after the appeal has been decided by the DRB, the parties may also seek to have the Arbitration Determination entered as a judgment by a Court, by following the procedures specified by Court Rules A-3 e and But neither party may re-litigate the matter. By Supreme Court rule, fee proceedings must be conducted in the district where the attorney maintains an office for practice.

There are 17 district fee secretaries. Click here for a list of addresses and telephone numbers for the district fee secretaries. Fee arbitration proceedings are confidential, and the Court Rules spell out the restrictions on disclosure of the proceedings.

Under Court Rules, once you file for fee arbitration, you are required thereafter to keep all communications and records regarding the fee matter confidential.

You may not breach this confidentiality by disclosing your fee dispute to persons other than members of the fee arbitration system, except to discuss the case with other witnesses or to consult an attorney.

The New Jersey Supreme Court has established the attorney fee arbitration system to provide clients with a fair, efficient, economical, and expeditious means of resolving fee disputes, and to foster public confidence in the legal profession. Accordingly, all involved with the fee arbitration committees welcome your participation in the process. The Random Audit Compliance Program conducts periodic audits of law firms that engage in the private practice of law in the state.

The purpose of the program is to insure that law firms maintain required records of clients' funds and attorneys' fees. The information on this webpage highlights the general operation of the Random Audit Program RAP , as well as some of the more important accounting requirements imposed on all attorneys who engage in the private practice of law in this state.

A judge can dismiss the case, issue a reproval, or recommend suspension or disbarment. The California Supreme Court has the final say in all discipline cases involving suspension or disbarment.

If you lost money or property because a lawyer did something dishonest, you may be able to recover it by filing an application with the Client Security Fund. But first you need to file a complaint against the attorney.

If criminal conduct is suspected, the State Bar may also refer the matter to a law enforcement agency for investigation and potential prosecution.