The legal profession is, by and large, self-regulated. Granted, there are central ethics agencies such as the Office of Attorney Ethics and the Disciplinary Review Board, ably assisted by numerous district ethics committees and advisory panels, that collectively monitor, review and advise on ethical conduct. Still, with the number of New Jersey licensed attorneys now topping 90,000, the ethics infrastructure depends in large measure on self-policing to prevent everyday violations from dominating the system.
Against that backdrop, we were dismayed at some of the figures contained in a recent OAE report. In 2011, ethics complaints against attorneys increased by 32 percent over the previous year. Although that figure includes multiple complaints against some attorneys, it is still too high. Likewise, the number of attorneys sanctioned by the Supreme Court rose by more than 6 percent in 2011 over 2010. The 2012 figures seem to be trending in the same direction. During the first quarter, the Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection paid in excess of $400,000 to clients for loses caused by dishonest lawyers.
