| Oklahoma
In OK, the state bar assoc. does not make complaints on a lawyer's record public info. Nor does the bar really do much about bad lawyers. I had a lawyer a few yrs back that forged my signature and also faked or coerced a fraudulent notary stamp on the forged document. He did absolutely nothing to represent me, and I had fired him...that's when he forged my signature. I have good reason to believe his plan was to accept a settlement by forgery and keep the money.
After I filed my complaint with the bar they did acknowledge that the lawyer had done all I said he did, incl. the forgery, but all they did was give him a private slap on the wrist and he's still practicing. He also still has my money, and he made a mess of my case. It took nearly two years to remove every hook he had in a potential settlement because he had placed, without permission or knowledge, a lien on my settlement. This was a settlement offer I'd acquired by my own work before hiring him. I had only hired him to negotiate and make sure all the T's were crossed, etc.
Later, I found out from a former friend of his, whom he'd also ripped off, that he had multiple complaints, some for embezzlement. He is still practicing and was at one time running for senator.
Since this was my only real legal experience I have the impression this is an Oklahoma problem, but maybe it's as bad everywhere. I would not assume that a state bar will tell you anything after my experience. There is a site, [url]http://www.clr.org[/url] dealing in bad lawyers, and also [url]http://www.halt.org[/url] which I believe is the site that "grades" state bars on how well they do their job. I think they gave OK a C-, a pretty generous grade IMO! I give them an F. | 
01-01-2005, 03:22 AM
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