There are approximately 1.4 million attorneys actively practicing law in the United States. According to the American Bar Association’s “Survey on Lawyer Discipline Systems, 2007” over 117,500 complaints were filed during the year alleging violations of ethical rules and the law. Of these complaints approximately 4.3 percent will result in attorneys being charged with an “ethical” or other violation and only 3 percent (3,525) will result in public sanctions against the attorney. Fewer than 0.72 percent (846) will actually result in the attorney’s disbarment, a sanction generally reserved for attorneys convicted of felonies or who habitually defy ethics rules over an extended period of time.
As the foregoing statistics illustrate, if you’re a victim of an attorney’s breach of the “Rules of Professional Conduct” or the law, the odds of your obtaining justice for their misconduct are heavily stacked against you. It is for this reason EvilEsq was founded. It is our mission to promote the ethical practice and application of the law by increasing transparency regarding attorney misconduct and the failed systems regulating them.
Victims of Attorney Misconduct
If you’re a victim of attorney or judicial misconduct, we want to hear from you. Send us a short article to be published on EvilEsq explaining what the attorney did or did not do which resulted in harm you and others. Provide your explanation in the context of the law and the Rules of Professional Conduct to which the attorney is bound to adhere. Explain how you and those close to you have been damaged, financially and otherwise by the attorney’s misconduct. Explain whether law enforcement personnel or the attorney disciplinary agency to which you complained took any action redress the attorney’s conduct. If the attorney was sanctioned by a disciplinary agency, court or convicted of a crime relating to your case, be certain to include information regarding the discipline imposed, your opinion as to the adequacy of that discipline and any restitution received. Also, be certain to include the attorney’s full name, law firm affiliation (if any), the state(s) in which they are licensed and their bar identification number(s). State your case clearly and concisely. The less editing we have to do the faster your article will be published. In the future, we intend to provide victims the ability to file grievances against attorneys online. Until then, unless you can support your case with confirmable evidence or with documentation from a court or recognized disciplinary agency, we will not publish the names of offending parties (or your name if you wish to remain anonymous). Send your article and supporting documentation to: victims@evilesq.com.
Volunteer
We plan to significantly expand our reach and the capabilities of this site in coming months and are looking for volunteers to assist with:
- preparation and editing of content;
- collection, and analysis of statistical information regarding lawyer discipline; and
- site promotion.
Email us at volunteer@evilesq.com if you’re interested in assisting with any of the above tasks. If you’re short on time, an easy way to assist our undertaking is to write a comment about us on your website, blog or a public forum with a link back to this site. You can expedite this by using the “ShareThis” button located at the botton of each article. This will serve to increase our readership and provide us greater prominence with search engines. Also, take the time to browse this site, comment on and rate attorney’s behavior. Email a link to this site to others you may know who’ve been affected by attorney misconduct.
Attorneys
If you’re mentioned in any of the articles on this site we’d like to hear from you too. Particularly, we’d like to know what you’ve done to redress the damage your misconduct caused, how you’ve rehabilitated yourself and why the public (if you haven’t been disbarred) should trust that you, as an officer of the court, will not offend again. State your case clearly and concisely. The less editing we have to do the quicker your article will be published. Be certain to provide your full name, state(s) of licensure and corresponding bar number(s). Also, reference the title and date of the article in which you are mentioned. Email your summary and any supporting documentation to: donoevil@evilesq.com
