Commission gets grievance survey.

The Bar's Special Commission on Lawyer Regulation has received the results of wide-ranging surveys on the Bar's grievance process, and will be discussing those results at an upcoming meeting.

Chair Hank Coxe told the Board of Governors at its May 28 meeting that the surveys encompassed those who have filed complaints, respondents, attorneys representing respondents, grievance committee members, Bar counsel, and referees.

The commission will examine those reports in detail when it meets at the annual convention later this month, Coxe said. He added the committee will also hear from Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero.

The commission has also added three new members, Coxe reported. They are Vivian Hobbs and Solomon Badger, both public members of the Board of Governors, and Roddie Bailey, chair of the Bar's Citizens Forum.

Coxe said the commission's goal is to review the grievance program, which costs about $10 million annually and determine "how are we spending this money, are we going about it right, and what are we getting for this money."

Survey Results

A hallmark of the commission's work has been a relentless seeking of input from all possible sources. While the panel has received hundreds of written comments, it also sent out thousands of surveys from those who have been involved in the grievance process, including complainants, respondents, grievance committee members, attorneys on all sides, and referees.

The results of that polling shows that while almost all Bar grievance committee members, referees, and Bar counsel--and a vast majority of respondents and their lawyers--feel the Bar grievance process is fair, more than three-quarters of those who bring the complaints against their lawyer say the proceedings are not fair to all concerned.

The contrast between lawyers and judges involved in a grievance case and the citizens who bring the complaints was also evident when asked how they felt about the appropriateness of the decision reached on their most recent grievance case. While 97 percent of grievance committee members, 87 percent of respondents, and 83 percent of referees report satisfaction with the decision, 82 percent of complainants report they were unsatisfied with the appropriateness of the decision, saying the punishment was not tough enough.

In all, 2,949 people returned the surveys sent to respondents, complainants, grievance committee members, referees, Bar counsel, and lawyers for the respondents.

Respondents

A majority of 1,423 respondents who returned the survey said they understood how the grievance process works procedurally (79 percent); understood what to expect during the investigation (78 percent); and did not have to ask anyone to explain the grievance process (71 percent). Those who did ask for explanations regarding the process generally asked Bar counsel or another lawyer. Several respondents who asked and were not pleased with the responses received...