Formal allegations of misconduct against Louisiana lawyers reached a 10-year high in 2015— even as the number of people filing complaints was at its second-lowest point since 2006, statistics from the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board show.
Last year, 2,955 complaints were filed with the agency, which investigates allegations of attorney misconduct and makes recommendations to the Louisiana Supreme Court when discipline is warranted.
But those complaints detailed 4,033 alleged acts of misconduct, with neglect and lack of communication leading the pack. That’s up nearly 3% from the previous high mark for complaints in 2009, and nearly 19% from just five years ago. It also constitutes a roughly 10% increase in complaints over the previous year.
Conflict of interest, ineffective assistance and scope of representation complaints also reached 10-year highs, up from 6% from last year’s previous record.
Disciplinary enforcement, however, took a tumble last year, down nearly 37% from the previous year and dropping nearly 35% from decade highs in 2010 and 2013. Of the 136 total disciplinary actions taken in 2015, 29 involved suspensions; 27, probation; and another 27, admonition. Six attorneys were disbarred, while two were permanently disbarred.
Chief Disciplinary Counsel Charles Plattsmier, whose office screens and investigates complaints and files formal charges when warranted, tells Daily Report that what’s statistically significant is the number of complaints, rather than the number of allegations contained in them. For the past nine years, the number of complaints have totalled more than 3,000 annually.
“For every complaint that comes in, sometimes they allege multiple things,” he says. “So those numbers are probably a little misleading. What’s significant is that we now have some 22,000 lawyers in Louisiana, and the number of complaints has dropped for the first time in quite awhile.”
Plattsmier says the LADB tracks the individual allegations in the complaints primarily to educate lawyers on “what your clients are complaining about. It’s to get a sense of where the issues may be for lawyers. I don’t think it tells us much more than that. We don’t correlated it with how many unsatisfied people are out there.”
Since 2006, a total of 30,602 formal complaints against Louisiana lawyers have been filed—nearly one-third of them by past or present clients—alleging 35,927 acts of misconduct. Those complaints have resulted in 1,687 disciplinary actions over the past decade. During that period, 84 attorneys have been permanently disbarred, 67 temporarily disbarred, 369 suspended and 389 put on probation. See all the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board statistics for the past 10 years.
—Penny Font
