how to report a lawyer that is not doing what he was paid for in ny

Who regulates attorneys in NY?

How do I file a complaint with the New York Bar Association?

What is the most common complaint against lawyers?

How do I contact New York AG?

Can you sue a lawyer for not doing their job?

Can I sue a lawyer for lying?

How do you know if a lawyer is scamming you?

How do you deal with rude lawyers?

How do I file a complaint against a public defender?

Who does the attorney general of New York report to?

Who is the current NY Attorney General?

How much does the New York Attorney General make?

Who is responsible for investigating and prosecuting complaints against New York State judges?

and non-lawyer members of the public, is responsible for investigating and prosecuting complaints against New York state judges, except for Housing Court judges (see below). A complaint may be submitted on a form obtained from the Commission’s website

What to do if you believe a lawyer violated the Rules of Professional Conduct?

If you believe a lawyer may have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct, you can write a letter to the appropriate Committee or fill out and submit a form available from their websites.

What happens if a complaint does not describe a possible violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct?

If the relevant Disciplinary or Grievance Committee determines that a complaint does not describe a possible violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, it will advise the complainant that an investigation is not warranted and close its file.

How to investigate a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct?

If the Committee determines that a complaint describes a meaningful violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, it will begin an investigation supervised by one of its staff lawyers. Typically, the Committee will first obtain an answer to the complaint from the lawyer and then give the complainant a chance to reply to the lawyer’s answer. The Committee may also ask for additional documents or information, question witnesses, or take other investigative steps. This investigation process may take several months. In the meantime, the complainant may directly contact the appropriate Committee staff person to ask the status of the matter.

What are the ethical standards of court employees in New York?

Like judges, court employees in New York State courts, such as court clerks, court officers, court aides and assistants, are held to high ethical standards. If a court employee has acted in a way that is corrupt, abusive, criminal or seriously incompetent, a complaint may be made to the Office of Court Administration by filling out a form that may be obtained from the New York courts’ website (http://www.nycourts.gov/admin/ig/index.shtml), or by calling or writing to:

What is fee dispute?

fee dispute exists when a client believes that his or her lawyer has not given sufficient value for the money the client has paid or may owe the lawyer. A fee dispute is usually not subject to disciplinary review. However, where the fees in dispute in a civil (not criminal) case are between $1000 and $50,000, a client may arbitrate his or her dispute under a state sponsored program. Arbitration is designed to be a fast, informal and inexpensive way to resolve disputes. Most clients handle fee arbitrations without hiring a new lawyer to help them.

Can a client file a complaint against a lawyer?

However, when that is not possible or the misconduct is very serious, the client may file a disciplinary complaint, even if he or she has not discharged the lawyer. Third parties may also file complaints about someone else’s lawyer.

How to file a complaint against a lawyer?

In most states, you can file your complaint by mailing in a state-issued complaint form or a letter with the lawyer’s name and contact information, your contact information, a description of the problem, and copies of relevant documents. In some states, you may be able to lodge your complaint over the phone or online.

How to find a lawyer by name?

Some state disciplinary boards have websites where you can search for a lawyer by name and see if the lawyer has a history of discipline.

What happens if a lawyer doesn't live up to his ethical obligations?

Lawyers who don’t live up to their ethical obligations can face discipline from a state board. Lawyers are human, and like everyone else, they sometimes make mistakes when representing clients. In some cases, the mistakes are small and easily fixable—for example, not filing enough copies of a document with the court or needing to reschedule a meeting. Other times, the mistakes are serious—such as missing the deadline to file a lawsuit, revealing confidential discussions with a client, or mishandling client funds. In these situations, the lawyer can face discipline for violating legal ethics, including losing the right to practice law.

What is the role of a disciplinary board in a state?

Each state has a disciplinary board that enforces state ethics rules for lawyers. The board is usually an arm of the state’s supreme court and has authority to interpret ethics rules, investigate potential violations, conduct evidentiary hearings, and administer attorney discipline.

What happens if a client fires a lawyer?

When a client fires a lawyer and asks for the file, the lawyer must promptly return it. In some states, such as California, the lawyer must return the file even if attorneys’ fees haven’t been paid in full. Lawyer incompetence.

What are the rules of professional conduct?

The American Bar Association publishes the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which lists standard ethical violations and best practices for lawyers. Some states have adopted the model rules as their own ethical rules, while others use it as a guide and modify or add rules.

What is the role of a lawyer?

Lawyers are given a lot of responsibility and often deal with serious matters, from criminal charges to child custody to tax and other financial matters. When you hire a lawyer, you are trusting him or her to represent your interests in the best manner possible. To protect the public—and the integrity of the legal profession—each state has its own code of ethics that lawyers must follow. These are usually called the “rules of professional conduct.”

What to do if your lawyer doesn't respond?

If your lawyer does not respond, or subsequent meetings or conversations are not fruitful, consider suggesting mediation to work out your communication problems if you still want this lawyer to represent you. A bad deskside manner doesn't mean that the lawyer isn't an excellent lawyer, and it can be difficult to find a new one in the middle of a case.

What to do if you lost money because of a lawyer?

If you lost money because of the way your lawyer handled your case, consider suing for malpractice. Know, however, that it is not an easy task. You must prove two things:

What is the agency responsible for licensing and disciplining lawyers?

Every state has an agency responsible for licensing and disciplining lawyers. In most states, it's the bar association; in others, the state supreme court. The agency is most likely to take action if your lawyer has failed to pay you money that you won in a settlement or lawsuit, made some egregious error such as failing to show up in court, didn't do legal work you paid for, committed a crime, or has a drug or alcohol abuse problem.

What is the defense of a lawyer who is sued for malpractice?

A common defense raised by attorneys sued for malpractice is that the client waited too long to sue. And because this area of the law can be surprisingly complicated and confusing, there's often plenty of room for argument. Legal malpractice cases are expensive to pursue, so do some investigating before you dive in.

What to do if your lawyer is unresponsive?

If the lawyer is unresponsive and the matter involves a lawsuit, go to the courthouse and look at your case file, which contains all the papers that have actually been filed with the court. If you've hired a new lawyer, ask her for help in getting your file. Also, ask your state bar association for assistance.

What to do if you can't find out what has been done?

If you can't find out what has (and has not) been done, you need to get hold of your file. You can read it in your lawyer's office or ask your lawyer to send you copies of everything -- all correspondence and everything filed with the court or recorded with a government agency.

What happens if a lawyer doesn't return phone calls?

A lawyer who doesn't return phone calls or communicate with you for an extended period of time may be guilty of abandoning you -- a violation of attorneys' ethical obligations. But that's for a bar association to determine (if you register a complaint), and it won't do you much good in the short term.

What happens if a client expressly instructs his lawyer to report knowledge of an opposing lawyer’s serious

Here is how I split this baby: If a client expressly instructs his lawyer to report knowledge of an opposing lawyer’s serious professional misconduct, then the lawyer must honor the client’s instruction to report. But the timing of the report remains within the lawyer’s discretion.

What happens if you send copies of your client's originals to the opposing lawyer?

A few days later he called back, and without coming over to look at the documents, he accused your client of fraud.

What happens if a client gives informed consent to disclosure?

If disclosure will not be likely to embarrass or harm your client, then the client’s informed consent removes all protection otherwise conferred by DR 4­101, and your report becomes mandatory pursuant to DR 1-103 (A) (assuming the remaining elements are met). But if disclosing your knowledge of the opposing lawyer’s misconduct is likely to embarrass or harm your client, and you therefore advise your client not to disclose, do you have to follow your client’s contrary instruction? In other words, can your client force you to report opposing counsel’s misconduct even though you believe the report will embarrass or harm your client?

What is attorney client privilege?

Under “applicable law,” the attorney-client privilege consists of communications in confidence between client and counsel for the purpose of obtaining or giving legal advice. Because most of your information comes from documents that were created for a business purpose and have been shown to the opposing side, your knowledge is probably not a “confidence.” But your knowledge was “gained in the professional relationship,” so it will be a secret if (a) your client has requested that you keep it secret, or (2) disclosing the information would embarrass your client, or (3) disclosing the information would be likely to harm your client.

How can the integrity of the profession be maintained?

The integrity of the profession can be maintained only if conduct of lawyers in violation of the Disciplinary Rules is brought to the attention of the proper officials. A lawyer should reveal voluntarily to those officials all knowledge, other than knowledge protected as a confidence or secret, of conduct of another lawyer which the lawyer believes clearly to be a violation of the Disciplinary Rules that raises a substantial question at to the other lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness in other respects as a lawyer. … [Emphasis added.]

What is a lawyer's knowledge?

A lawyer possessing knowledge or evidence, not protected as a confidence or secret, concerning another lawyer or a judge shall reveal fully such knowledge or evidence upon proper request of a tribunal or other authority empowered to investigate or act upon the conduct of lawyers or judges.

Who is entitled to make decisions?

In certain areas of legal representation not affecting the merits of the cause or substantially prejudicing the rights of a client, a lawyer is entitled to make decisions. But otherwise the authority to make decisions is exclusively that of the client and, if made within the framework of the law, such decisions are binding on the lawyer. …

What is the duty of an attorney to report a lawyer's misconduct?

Generally, the duty of an attorney to report misconduct by another attorney is very limited under the New York Rules of Professional Conduct [22 NYCRR 1200]. Rule 8.3 requires a lawyer to report knowledge of another lawyer’s violation of a Rule of Professional Conduct to a tribunal or other authority empowered to investigate or act upon such information if: (1) the rule violation raises a substantial question as to the offending lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer; and (2) the information is not privileged or confidential by virtue of it having come from a client or as a result of involvement with a bona fide lawyer assistance program. Accordingly, in all cases, determining whether you are obligated to report another attorney’s misconduct requires an analysis of the elements of Rule 8.3.

Why is Rule 8.3 mandatory?

Underpinning the strict and limited mandatory reporting requirement under Rule 8.3 is the desire to have attorneys self-regulate the profession in order to preserve its integrity and ensure that the disciplinary authorities are not overrun with minor complaints by attorneys against one another.

Do attorneys have to report misconduct?

In conclusion, although attorneys are mandated by Rule 8.3 to report professional misconduct of other attorneys, the circumstances giving rise to the obligation are purposely circumscribed. Attorneys should ensure that all elements of Rule 8.3 are satisfied and that they are acting in good faith before deciding whether a report is necessary.