How Busy is the Office of Disciplinary Counsel?

complaintIn 2014 to date, Louisiana lawyers were the subject of more than 2,900 complaints filed with the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel. As of this week, ODC has received 2,922 complaints, mostly from disgruntled clients. Of these, it opened 1,479 (51%) files for further investigation. (This investigation process typically involves, at a minimum, sending the complaint to the lawyer and requesting a written response.) What is interesting is that 42% of the complaints were summarily dismissed because they did not allege a prima facie violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, or because they were not within ODC’s jurisdiction (for example, because the complaints were lodged against judges). As to the remainder, ODC referred 285 to the LSBA to mediate a lawyer-client dispute (often, a fee dispute), sent 5 to diversion, and conducted 203 lawyer trust account reviews. Pretty busy.

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