Maybe that one blemish on an otherwise lengthy, impeccable career had gone unnoticed up to this point. But when the new year began, that all changed.Now, lawyers in Connecticut may want to try even harder to be on their best behavior.
That's because the state Judicial Branch website now lists the juris histories of every lawyer admitted to the Connecticut bar. That history includes an attorney's disciplinary record, if there is one.
Before, the web site simply said whether a lawyer licensed in Connecticut was active, suspended or retired.
"The primary purpose is to serve the general public so they can see if a lawyer has been disciplined," said Michael P. Bowler, statewide bar counsel. "The public can call us and get this information anyway but now we're putting it in a more user-friendly format."
Full Article and Source:
Conn. Judicial Branch Website Now Lists Attorneys' Grievance Histories
Connecticut Judicial Branch Website
Every state should make this information available so that consumers will know whether it's safe to hire a certain lawyer.
ReplyDeleteGood news! All states should do this!
ReplyDeleteYou're right on point, Anonymous. Too many people don't find out until it's too late.
ReplyDeleteI hope it is clear that this means very little. Why? Here are three reasons:
ReplyDelete(1) The public was already able to get this information just by calling
(2) If a lawyer has not been disciplined, nothing else is made available
(3) Nearly 100% of all complaints are dismissed without a lawyer being disciplined -- and so without any of the complainant's evidence being released to the public
In order to fully appreciate this, consider the evidence which is summarized at and linked to http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/dir.htm. A lawyer took advantage of my father in a hospital during his final hours, while he was on a morphine drip and under a Do Not Resuscitate order. The evidence includes a deed which unambiguously states that this lawyer prepared it. However, contrary to this evidence (and other linked above), the Bar found that this lawyer did not prepare it and so did not discipline her. She just happened to have been president of her local bar and chair of its grievance committee, a fact which the state Bar conveniently chose to ignore when I originally filed my complaint with it and asked it to investigate the complaint rather than have the local bar investigate it.
If you're reading this, you might already appreciate not only the need for safeguards to protect us against such legal shenanigans but also the refusal of authorities to work with us to develop these safeguards and put them in place.
If you're not already familiar with the safeguards which have been proposed, I hope you will find out and show your support for them. That show of support is obviously needed.
The dark veil of secrecy is starting to lift!
ReplyDeleteI think it means a lot, tvfields. In my state, you can't call and get this information. At least people would have a fighting chance if the information were made available.
ReplyDeleteYou are oh so right about point number 3!
The disciplinary board for attorneys isn't working. For those that have experienced filing a claim against a lawyer soon found out the last place to file a claim against an attorney is with the disciplinary board for attorneys. It's like a brother hood and they protect their own.
ReplyDeleteYou will see few attorney disciplinary records, But, it is time these records are made available to the public and a site created to help the people.
Our State judicial branch's are failing the citizens. We need a tribunal, fluent in law, completely separated from the bar. Once a disciplinary claim is filed, the attorney should go on un-paid leave until BOTH sides and evidence is presented in person before the tribunal, due to the fact in some cases lives are at stake.
Writing down your complaint on a form, mailing it in, only gets you the run around, besides if you have no attorney, makes it's easier for the board to dismiss your valid complaint because your not using appropriate legal language, that alone will get your claim dismissed.
In the meantime your family member continues to suffer and even die prematurely and you've lost thousands, and thousands of dollars because a sorry attorney refused to do his job, comes to court not prepared and has one sided communications behind the scenes with the defendant and his attorney, these unscrupulous attorney's then decide before the hearing, you will lose your case.
It becomes obvious when your own attorney sits in court, allows you to be verbally attacked without making the first objection.
For an attorney to change a person's will while their laying on their death bed is very suspicious. Without a doubt a new tribunal for the People, fluent in law should replace the bar, to put a stop to the one sided protocol of crooked attorney's and the bar who seems to allow this continued abuse of the People. And, a tribunal advocate should be on stand by to assist the plaintiff.
Our Nation is slowly waking up, and discovering the mafia has taken over our judicial system.
The People deserve to have honest, law abiding attorney's represent them, that are on their side !
DEMAND CHANGE"!
A friend of mine hired a lawyer who screwed up. Turned out he was a cokie.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Anonymous 3. I bet it happens more often than we know.
ReplyDeleteThe website consolidates the disciplinary record with the attorney lookup function. It used to be that you would look up the attorney's license and separately you could look up the attorney's disciplinary record.
ReplyDeleteNothing has changed in terms of what is public or not, or what information is available from the website. It's just much more convenient.
But, we still don't get enough information about lawyers and it could be in the past we got more due to a more active press/newspapers than we have now.
For instance, in New Haven, CT, atty John Radshaw was appointed as an alternate to the New Haven attorney Grievance Panel on something like July 9, 2010. On July 12, 2010 the disciplinary counsel filed an action against Radshaw's license in New Haven Superior Court, seeking to place him on "inactive status."
It is awkward that a newly appointed member of the lawyer grievance panel should immediately be faced with a disciplinary action against him.
The panels are where disciplinary actions originate. If something is substantiated, a record of discipline will appear in that online lookup you feature in this blog post.
But little is known about the Radshaw action. The local press has not even noticed its existence and precious little can be learned from the court records in the case, which is pending as I write this.
Each district has its own grievance panels that serve that area's consumers. It would indeed be newsworthy to the newspapers in that particular community that a member of the local grievance panel is facing license action himself It seems the local papers, where there have been drastic staffing cuts, are wholly unaware of the situation.
It makes it harder for people to wisely choose a lawyer when watchdog institutions like the press is weaker than it was.
The Radshaw case is "Disciplinary Counsel v. John Radshaw,"
at: http://civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/CaseDetail/PublicCaseDetail.aspx?DocketNo=NNHCV106012781S
NOW PUBLISH COMPLAINTS ABOUT JUDGES!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe judges are corrupt. This is a start, but a weak one. The judicial system in this state is so poor I wouldn’t know where to start.
The judges are horrible.
To grieve a judge and have it stuck is next to impossible.
Who’s protecting the people’s interests? ANSWER: NO ONE!!!!