By Jan Maiden
In this new feature of San Diego Lawyer, Jan Maiden, former SDCBA Board member, recounts a situation in which a client threatened her license and how she addressed it.
I practice family law, where the saying goes, “We see even the best people at their worst.” A young man retained me to represent him in his divorce. It seemed very straightforward until his wife filed a Temporary Restraining Order against him and he was also charged in a criminal case. He became extremely hostile and confrontive. I found out from his family that he had a psychiatric diagnosis and had been using Methamphetamine. After he threatened to report me to the State Bar, I immediately contacted the attorney who had handled my anti-SLAPP case and consulted with him about how to respond. I was very careful on how I worded every e-mail to the client and actually had the malpractice attorney review some of them. Because of the client’s allegations, I also prepared a complete chronology of what had happened in the case. Fortunately, the client signed a Substitution of Attorney, or I would have had to file a Motion to be Relieved.
Jan Maiden is an attorney at law.
This article was originally published in the Mar/Apr 2019 issue of San Diego Lawyer.
Threatening to file a State Bar complaint and actually filing a State Bar complaint is not unusual for a client or former client. It is worth keeping in mind that most State Bar complaints have no merit and are closed. The numbers are telling. The draft State Bar annual discipline report for 2018 discloses 15,973 cases (of all types, including complaints) opened, 14,855 closed, with 649 cases filed in State Bar Court, the start of the formal discipline process. No one wants to be part of the 649 of course but the most complaints are closed after the attorney (often with the assistance of bar defense counsel) responds fully to State Bar investigation letter. The numbers are should not be cause for attorneys to relax in addressing ethical issues; even minor discipline can have disastrous career consequences.
Just because the complainant is crazy doesn’t mean that State Bar will ignore their complaint. The threshold for opening an investigation is low: if the facts state a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct or State Bar Act on their face, the State Bar will be writing a letter to the attorney requesting an explanation and, usually, asking the attorney to provide what amounts to the entire client file. The State Bar is not limited to the four corners of the client’s complaint; if anything in the attorney’s response indicates a violation, the State Bar can act. There are plenty of potential traps for the unwary lurking in the Rules and statutes. When a complaint is threatened or an investigation letter received, consultation with experienced State Bar defense counsel (like me) is a good idea.