by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Attorneys are responsible for guiding their clients through the legal system, but what can those clients do if they feel they haven’t been properly represented or received the service they expected?
The Florida Bar offers an Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP) and Grievance Committees to handle complaints of consumers. ACAP is the initial contact for consumers and its staff can often resolve disputes before a complaint is filed. For example, if a lawyer is not returning the phone calls of a client, ACAP will attempt to contact the lawyer.
“It used to be the branch offices that handled initial review of complaints,” said Jim Watson Jr., Florida Bar Chief Branch Discipline Counsel. “Now ACAP is the intake division for the whole state. They do a great job with dispute resolution. Pre-complaint resolution benefits everybody.”
The process also helps people that may be confused about a process they are unfamiliar with.
“It gives consumers an opportunity to make contact with someone to find out if a lawyer is doing what they should be doing,” said Jake Schickel, Florida Bar Board of Governors member and a part of local Grievance Committees. “A lot of people are dealing with the unknown because it is the first time they have had contact with a lawyer and they get frustrated with the process.”
If ACAP finds that it cannot resolve the problem then the complaint is submitted to local Grievance Committees. There are 81 such committees in the state serving 20 districts. The Fourth Judicial Circuit is served by four committees. The volunteer committees are made up of two-thirds members of the Bar and one-third non-lawyers. The committees are responsible for continuing the investigation of possible lawyer misconduct referred by Bar discipline attorneys. Applicants must be of legal age and reside in the committee circuit and lawyer members must be a member of the Bar for five years pursuant to rule Rule 3-3.4(c). Persons interested in serving on one of the Grievance Committees can forward a resume to the nearest Florida Bar branch office.
Former Jacksonville Bar President and current Florida Bar Board of Governors member Grier Wells has been a part of a local Grievance Committee since 2002 and noticed how attentive the current members are.
“I do think that committee members seem to be very active in their assigned investigations,” said Wells, who is on Grievance Committee C in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. “Lay people are very fascinated by the entire process. Some have noticed that the lawyers that serve on the committee are a lot tougher on other lawyers than (non-lawyers) are. I think most lawyers are very sensitive to protecting the public, so when lawyers see other lawyers do something to undermine the public trust, we take that very seriously.”
The grievance committee reviews complaints just like a grand jury reviews testimony. “The committee decides, after a case is submitted to them by Bar counsel, whether there is probable cause to believe a lawyer violated the professional conduct rules imposed by the Supreme Court of Florida and whether discipline against the lawyer appears to be warranted,” according to the Florida Bar.
Results of the deliberation of the committee can include finding of no probable cause, recommendation of admonishment for minor misconduct, recommendation of diversion to remedial programs or the Florida Bar filing an official complaint with the Florida Supreme Court.
Long before the Florida Supreme Court reviews a case, the complaint has to be made and that process had been made more accessible with the help of computers and the Internet.
“The biggest single difference since I began organizing this office has been the Internet. It has made the complaint process more available to people,” said Watson. “Before, you had to call and ask for a branch office. They would send the person a complaint form and then the person would have to send the form back.”
Consumers can now download the complaint form, a hard copy is still required, from www.floridabar.org by clicking on the lawyer regulation heading, followed by lawyer conduct and Attorney Consumer Assistance Program.
Disciplinary statstics
The Florida Bar currently has over 87,000 members. The following are disciplinary figures from the past three years.
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