Beyond the Bar: Your 5-Step Guide to Discovering Whether a Lawyer Is Shady

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If you're looking to retain an attorney, you might have heard: "Check their state bar's website profile, because it will reveal anything negative."

That is bad advice.

While it's useful to look at a lawyer's profile to confirm that they're licensed to practice law, if there are complaints filed by dozens of clients over several years, you might never see them. Besides that, the absence of bad stuff on their profile is no assurance that you are dealing with an ethical attorney.

Please take a moment and read my article Why a Law Firm Secretly Recording Client Conversations Is Wrong (and Illegal), written last year, and ask yourself, "Would I hire this attorney?"

That story led to dozens of comments from lawyers and law professors across the country who felt this conduct would certainly lead to discipline by the State Bar of California.

Despite the incident being a monumental invasion of privacy and violation of criminal law, the bar decided the lawyer had been "negligent" and dropped the matter.

But negligence is not a defense to what happened. And I feel compelled to point out this is not a unique situation either, as the California bar has a poor reputation when it comes to attorney discipline.

State bar attorney profiles significantly understate real problems

State bar attorney profiles are generally thought of as a first line of consumer protection. Most people researching an attorney would expect it to help evaluate a lawyer's competence, integrity, honesty and history of misconduct.

In reality, while formal discipline — suspensions and disbarments — will appear, you will not see:

• Complaints that were dismissed or quietly closed
• Complaints resolved through informal admonitions
• Malpractice claims that were confidentially settled
• Court rulings or comments from judges
• Repetitive complaints showing a lack of communication ("My lawyer never returns my calls.")

Data collected by the American Bar Association and Florida Atlantic University found that some states do an excellent job with attorney discipline, while others — lacking staff resources for proper investigations — continue to permit incompetents and crooks to practice law.

Therefore, you've got to go beyond a state bar profile when you're looking to hire a particular attorney. There are several lawyer review sites. Lawyers.com, Martindale-Hubbell and Avvo provide peer and limited client comments, but you won't see "tell it like it is" forums for clients.

Google, including Google Reviews, and Yelp perform those important functions, providing the answers to questions you might have, such as, "What do clients say about this lawyer?" and "Are there red flags?"

Here are some steps you can take to explore a lawyer's reputation with clients.

1. Begin your search with Google, typing into the search bar: (name of attorney) and then add each of these search terms (do the search for each term separately):

• Sued for malpractice
• Sanctioned
• Debt
• Complaint
• Suspended
• Disbarred
• Client fee dispute

Also, look for news articles or television stories. You might even ask AI what it thinks, though be careful to ensure the information shared is accurate.

2. Next, read Yelp comments, beginning with the one- and two-star reviews. While the four- and five-star comments will be interesting, even though it is illegal to falsify glowing praise, some lawyers are just like Jim Carey's character in the film Liar, Liar.

Red flags to watch for include comments such as:

• Could never get the lawyer to call me back.
• No one knew a thing about my accident case.
• They ask clients for five-star reviews in exchange for gift cards.
• They raised their percentage from one-third to 50% without my approval, and we never went to court.

If you're researching personal injury or sue-your-boss firms that advertise often on TV, online or on the sides of buses, look for comments such as the following that show up repeatedly over a span of years:

• Worst mistake I made in my life.
• Good luck to anybody seeking help from them.
• Unprofessional. Wish I never walked into their office.
• Their retainer, I learned later, violated my state's law.

Also, watch for comments about poor office management, such as:

• Their bill was impossible to understand, and no one would explain it to me, but threatened collection action if I did not pay at once.
• I paid the retainer, but no one called me to arrange an office meeting.
• The lawyer failed to tell his new receptionist to not accept rent payments in an eviction case, so now we have to refile all sorts of papers.

3. Check local court records to see what might not be covered in reviews. Has the lawyer been sued for malpractice? What was alleged? Was there a settlement? How much?

Has the attorney been sued often for stupid things, like not paying the rent or the company that repairs office equipment or even paying employees their wages? People are consistent, and you don't need that craziness.

Also, has the attorney filed suit against former clients for past-due fees? If yes, and the amount would awaken you from a coma, then you have to wonder: "How could a lawyer let a bill get so far past due?" That might suggest a lack of responsibility, and if so, do you want someone like that to handle your case?

Attorney malpractice insurance companies strongly advise against suing former clients for fees, as, typically, the client then sues the lawyer for malpractice.

4. Ask around. If you have a court case and know someone who works in your local sheriff's department, ask if they know a court bailiff who would be able to share their assessment of the lawyer.

5. Once you get to the interview phase, watch for more red flags. If the lawyer says, "I can guarantee we will win," run the other way. It is illegal for a lawyer to guarantee a result.

If you can't get a reasonable answer to, "How much will you be charging me?" find someone who became a lawyer to help clients rather than think only of their bank balance.

You might also want to read my previous article, Need to Hire a Lawyer? Why Local is Best, for more advice on finding a good attorney.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield, Calif., and welcomes comments and questions from readers, which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993, or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1@gmail.com. And be sure to visit dennisbeaver.com.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.