There are 75,600 lawyers in Pennsylvania. Last year, 3,818 disciplinary complaints were opened, and 132 attorneys were disciplined. Based on these numbers, it is safe to say that most of you reading this column will never hear from the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the investigating and prosecuting arm of the Disciplinary Board. Even fewer of you will receive discipline from the board. As an attorney who represents attorneys facing disciplinary complaints, (respondents) I often ask myself—what makes this case one of the chosen cases?

Some respondents’ attorneys suspect that solo and small firm attorneys are more frequently targeted by disciplinary counsel and that big firm lawyers can avoid the consequences of their errors. In California, the bar is investigating whether there is an institutional bias against solo and minority lawyers and how that has affected the imposition of discipline. See https://abovethelaw.com/2021/02/inequalities-in-lawyer-discipline-demand-action.