Attorney discipline lost file

When the ODC obtains all necessary facts, an evaluation is made as to whether there is sufficient evidence to support a finding of a Rule violation. The investigation will result in one of the following dispositions: 1. Dismissal of the complaint. Imposition of a private admonition by ODC. Commencement of formal disciplinary proceedings. The grievance process exists to protect the public. Disciplinary Board members and hearing committee members are not paid for their work, but volunteer to do this work in order to maintain the standards of the legal profession.

The Office of the Disciplinary Counsel and the Disciplinary Board cannot represent you or give you legal advice. They cannot sue an attorney on your behalf, or seek the return of money or property from the attorney. Learn more about five ethics rules that lawyers may not know and yet address some of the most asked ethics questions.

The ARDC Electronic Filing Manua l has been updated to reflect changes to the process of filing documents electronically in attorney disciplinary proceedings using the new Portal. Additional training materials as developed by Tyler Technologies can be found here.

Learn more about the differences between inactive and retired registration status. Details matter. Before calling, make a chronological outline, including the approximate dates of the problems you encountered. You should be able to discuss your case in detail when you call. During the interview, have on hand any documents that provide helpful information. It is more rigorous than the preponderance of the evidence standard but less rigorous than proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt.

In order to prove a claim by clear and convincing evidence, our attorneys must show that it is substantially more likely than not the claim is true and that the misconduct violates the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct. This higher standard often requires specific dates, specific information and other supporting documentation. Be prepared with this information, if you have it. You may file a complaint using the online complaint form.

The form will take approximately fifteen to twenty minutes to complete. After you submit the form, an intake specialist or an intake attorney will follow up with you by telephone or in writing regarding your complaint.

The intake division is the triage unit for the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Attorneys and staff here are the front line for all complaints, deciding how a case is handled and whether it moves forward. When you call the office, one of our trained intake investigators will ask you to explain your concerns and to provide the factual background of what happened. They will assign the case to an intake attorney who will review the facts of the matter and decide whether the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct "Rules" are implicated, whether further investigation is warranted and whether any rule violation can be proven by clear and convincing evidence.

If the intake attorney determines that the Rules are not implicated or that there is not clear and convincing evidence of any Rule violation, the matter will be closed and dismissed. If, on the other hand, the intake attorney determines that there is clear and convincing evidence of minor ethical misconduct, the matter may be resolved with diversion, which is an alternative to discipline. Finally, if the intake attorney determines that further investigation is warranted or that there is clear and convincing evidence of more serious ethical misconduct, the matter will be forwarded to the trial division of the office for further action.

Many cases are resolved at the intake level, either through dismissal or by an alternative to discipline. If an intake attorney wants more information, he or she may ask you to send a letter or other documentation describing the matter. If the intake attorney believes the Rules are implicated or that there is evidence of a rule violation, he or she will probably seek an explanation from the respondent attorney. The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is a professional oversight office. The office investigates allegations of ethical misconduct by attorneys to determine whether attorneys have violated the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct "Rules".

If there is clear and convincing evidence of a minor Rule violation, the office pursues an appropriate remedial solution, such as a diversion agreement or a dismissal with an educational letter. This achieves the goal of the office by protecting the public and educating otherwise upstanding attorneys while not stripping them of their livelihood.

Maybe you see the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel as a form of relief. The office has no jurisdiction over civil or criminal proceedings. We cannot remove or replace your attorney, offer legal advice, help recover attorney fees or seek to overturn unfavorable rulings or court orders in your case. If you are currently engaged in a civil or criminal dispute, you should proceed with your own counsel.

If you believe you have a claim for civil damages, you should seek outside counsel. For help finding a lawyer, you may want to contact the Colorado Bar Association at www. There is no cost for filing a request for investigation. The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is funded by annual attorney registration fees. There are many situations that clients may find annoying but that do not violate the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct. For example, an honest disagreement over how a case should be handled is not misconduct.

Except under unusual circumstances, a disagreement over legal fees also is not evidence of a rule violation. Many callers raise concerns about attorneys for what might be characterized as unprofessional behavior.

However, in some instances unprofessional conduct may implicate the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct and may be addressed by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. In those cases, the office may suggest steps that attorneys can take to prevent future unprofessional conduct, or in some cases may pursue a disciplinary sanction against the lawyer. No taxpayer dollars are used. Under C.

There is no rule of limitations for filing a complaint alleging theft of client funds or conviction of a serious crime. Many people who are upset about the way the lawyer handled their case or about a perceived lack of communication have never expressed those concerns to the lawyer.

We often suggest that people in this situation put those concerns in a written letter to the attorney. If you send a letter like this to a lawyer, it is usually a good idea to give the lawyer a deadline of 10 or 14 days to respond to your concerns. Keep a copy of the letter for your records. If you choose to relay your concerns to the attorney over the phone or in person, write a confirmation letter to the attorney detailing the conversation, and keep a copy of that letter as well.

The intake specialist or intake attorney may ask for a copy of any written correspondence with your lawyer. A letter serves two purposes. One, your attorney may be able to address your issues if he or she sees them in writing. A disagreement over legal fees is usually not evidence of misconduct. At that point, an intake attorney or other intake personnel will gather more information about your claims to determine whether there is evidence of a rule violation.

If the intake attorney suspects a rule violation, he or she may ask you to put your complaint in writing and submit it along with any documents supporting your claim. A complaining witness will be notified if the intake attorney dismisses the case, determines that alternatives to discipline are appropriate through a diversion program, or processes the matter to a trial attorney.

Except in unusual circumstances, the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel does not disclose details about, or even the existence of, any investigation until a formal complaint is filed with the Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge. This means requests for investigation that are dismissed or result in an alternative to discipline are not made public by the office.

In other words, cases handled at the central intake section of the office are confidential. This confidentiality is required by C. However, respondents and complaining witnesses are NOT bound by confidentiality rules. For instance, complaining witnesses may disclose the details of their complaint in a civil malpractice case. Whether that will be allowed as evidence in such a case is a matter for the civil court judge to decide.

Complaining witnesses are also notified if the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel enters into a diversion agreement with the respondent attorney. Details of such agreements, however, are NOT revealed to the complaining witness. Most attorneys are understandably upset when they're notified of a complaint against them. Anxiety about loss of a license or a soiled reputation is common, but isn't necessarily warranted.

The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is required to look into all complaints. If the respondent attorney is asked for a response, it in no way indicates that the office has prejudged the merits of the allegations. The office is charged with ensuring that an attorney's conduct conforms to the requirements of the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct and other law, both in professional services to clients and in the lawyer's business and personal affairs.

This does not mean simply disciplining attorneys. The primary goal is to protect the public, and that's often achieved through rehabilitative solutions. The office utilizes a number of tools for this purpose, including educational courses and referrals to treatment when appropriate.

Roughly 90 percent of the 3, complaints received by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel each year are resolved in the intake division—either through dismissal or through a diversion agreement. So what should you expect if you are the subject of a complaint? When a hearing panel has filed a report recommending stronger discipline, oral argument is routinely scheduled before the Board. The lawyer may appear in person and may be represented by counsel. A representative of the committee appears in support of the hearing panel report.

No witnesses are permitted at this oral argument and no testimony is taken. However, the argument is open to the public. If the Board determines that an admonition, reprimand, censure, suspension, or disbarment should be imposed, its written decision must be reviewed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

The Board forwards a copy of its decision to you and to the lawyer. Disbarment can be decided only by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

In all other matters, the recommendation of the Board becomes final on entry of an Order by the Supreme Court, unless the Supreme Court has granted one of the parties leave to appeal. In cases where the Supreme Court grants oral argument, the Office of Attorney Ethics represents the public interest before the Court, which issues a final order disciplining the attorney or determining that no discipline is required.

The Supreme Court of New Jersey has held that persons who file grievances "may speak publicly regarding the fact that a grievance was filed, the content of that grievance, and the result of the process. To protect the integrity of the investigation process, we recommend that you, as well as all witnesses, not speak about the case other than to disciplinary officials while the matter is under investigation. So long as you maintain the confidentiality of the investigation process, you have immunity from suit for anything you say or write to disciplinary officials.

However, the Supreme Court has stated that you "are not immune for statements made outside the context of a disciplinary matter, such as to the media or in another public forum. Supreme Court of New Jersey, N. Grievances against lawyers are not dismissed lightly, nor are they prosecuted without justification. The protection of the public is paramount in considering every grievance filed.

You may expect You should not expect that your grievance will be decided solely on the basis of what you claim to have happened, just as, in fairness to you, the lawyer about whom you complained cannot expect that the matter will be decided solely on the basis of his or her version. The final decision must depend upon the weight of all the available evidence and testimony.

You should not expect, as a result of your grievance, that you will receive any money or reimbursement of loss from the ethics committee. You must seek recovery of any monetary loss you may claim was caused by a lawyer, from that lawyer, either voluntarily or as a result of a lawsuit.

As explained below, when money has been lost due to dishonest conduct, the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection may reimburse the client's loss.

Attorney disciplinary proceedings, however, are restricted to the question of whether a lawyer's conduct was ethical, and, if it was not ethical, the appropriate level of discipline. Neither should you expect the disciplinary system to provide you with private legal advice or legal services, either in place of the services you expected from your lawyer, or against the lawyer.

The disciplinary system acts only to enforce the Rules of Professional Conduct upon lawyers. Occasionally, a grievance against a lawyer involves dishonest conduct.

If you believe that money or other property belonging to you has been taken by your lawyer, in addition to filing a grievance, you may also file a claim with the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection the "Fund" after also notifying the appropriate county prosecutor of the incident.

It is important to note that the Fund is a separate committee of the Supreme Court with its own distinct purpose, jurisdiction, and procedures.

Just as the district ethics and fee arbitration committees cannot pay claims, the Fund cannot discipline attorneys or settle fee disputes. Nor may the Fund pay claims based upon the negligence or malpractice of an attorney.

For such cases you may consult a private attorney to decide if you may bring a civil lawsuit to collect damages. You must prove a loss suffered through the dishonest conduct of an attorney with whom you had an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship.

The attorney against whom the claim is made must be either suspended or disbarred, unless deceased or otherwise unavailable, for the Fund to have jurisdiction. The Fund is administered by six Trustees five attorneys and one public member all of whom donate their time and talents. The Fund receives no tax revenues but rather pays its awards out of money paid by New Jersey attorneys themselves each year as a demonstration of commitment to maintaining public confidence in the legal system.

If you have questions or if you wish to obtain a claim form, please call the Fund at or write to Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, P. Box , Trenton, New Jersey By Supreme Court rule, ethics grievances must be filed in the district where the attorney maintains an office for practice. Click here for a complete listing of the district ethics secretaries.

Those involved in the attorney disciplinary system appreciate your interest. They seek fair, impartial, and vigorous enforcement of the Rules of Professional Conduct in the interests of the public, clients, and the legal profession.

This page contains a monthly listing of all public charges pending against attorneys following investigation. These charges are accusations. Attorneys are presumed innocent until and unless found to have committed unethical conduct after hearing. Under Supreme Court Rule c , after a grievance is investigated, the matter will become public on the filing of public charges in the form of a formal ethics complaint, a stipulation waiving the filing of a formal complaint, a motion for reciprocal discipline from another state or agency , or a motion for final discipline based on a criminal charge or the approval of a motion for discipline by consent.

In the case of a formal complaint, that document becomes the basis for a public hearing at which evidence is presented. Thereafter, a hearing panel or special ethics master in some complex cases decides whether or not the attorney has committed unethical conduct.

Stipulations, motions for final or reciprocal discipline and motions for discipline by consent proceed directly before the Disciplinary Review Board. The Office of Attorney Ethics publishes a list of all pending hearings throughout the state on a monthly basis. Hearings are grouped on the list by the district in which they are handled. A formal complaint is an allegation and accusation of unethical conduct.

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.