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About lawyers:
How to complain

Complaints about a lawyer are taken very seriously. That is why a complaint about an attorney's ethics should not be filed unless you have absolutely no other avenue open to you. The Louisiana Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over complaints about lawyers. Complaints are initially screened by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which is under the Supreme Court.
 



The Louisiana Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction to hear attorney discipline matters. If an attorney is found to be in the wrong, the sanctions can include reprimand, suspension, or disbarment.
 

Related Topics

Statistically, categories with the highest number of complaints include family practitioners, personal injury attorneys, criminal defense attorneys and those who handle estate and succession matters. Failure to communicate, lack of diligence, neglect of legal matters and improper funds handling continue to lead the list of most common complaints.  –La Supreme Ct.

 

Attempt to resolve your problem

Probably 75% of complaints against lawyers result from lack of communication. "My lawyer never calls me back" is probably the single biggest complaint. Although failing to return your calls is not grounds to complain by itself, usually this particular failure to communicate leads to suspicions by the client that something is wrong or is being hidden.

Before considering a formal complaint, you should contact your lawyer in writing stating why you are dissatisfied, that you are considering a complaint, and what you feel needs to be done to correct the situation. Since a formal complaint, once set in motion, is a serious matter, you should try every means to settle informally.

If there is no other recourse

If you feel that you have done everything possible to settle the problem with your lawyer without success, you can file a formal complaint with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel in Baton Rouge.

Office of the Disciplinary Counsel
4000 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd.
Suite 607
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
Telephone:225-293-3900
Toll Free: 1-800-326-8022

Complaint form

Here is the complaint form in PDF format. This form can be viewed and then printed out by you if your browser is capable of reading PDF files. If not, you can download the free PDF Acrobat Reader from Adobe by going here.

The purposes of lawyer discipline proceedings are:

to protect the public

to protect the integrity of the legal system

to ensure the administration of justice

to deter further unethical conduct

to rehabilitate the offending lawyer

to deter unethical behavior by educating other lawyers and the public.

The system is administered by a 14 member statewide Attorney Disciplinary Board, four of whom are public members unaffiliated with the legal profession, assisted by 117 hearing committee members, consisting of 78 attorneys and 39 lay representatives.