Lawyer discipline is rare relative to complaint volume and lenient toward infractions

Evidence

In 1961–​62, the fifty states disbarred seventy-​four law­ yers and suspended nine. In 1978, according to Deborah L. Rhode, agencies received 30,836 complaints serious enough to warrant opening a file, but only 124 lawyers in the whole country were disbarred. The pace of complaints has increased—​there were over 100,000 complaints in 2014—​but the penalties continue to be infrequent and light. … It is hard to be sure, but it does seem that relatively few lawyers pay for their sins. Most complaints go nowhere. Disciplinary proceedings are a drop in the bucket. Unless lawyers are impossibly honest and the clients impossibly demanding and neurotic, some­ thing is amiss. The disciplinary agencies are, in Rhode’s view, “grossly unresponsive” to clients and their complaints. Lawyers punish other lawyers for very flagrant violations—​ stealing a client’s money, for example. For most other offenses, and for plain incompe­ tence, lawyers are (understandably) rather gentle with themselves. And many rules are simply not enforced. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1288

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Professional ethics rules banning advertising protected elite lawyers over clients — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1281; Market competition disciplines lawyers more than bar association sanctions — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 852; Incorrect legal citations can trigger sanctions and undermine credibility — Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, Tiger Jackson, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style,…, 226 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Market competition disciplines lawyers more than bar association sanctions #corroborates (0.80) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 852
• Incorrect legal citations can trigger sanctions and undermine credibility #exemplifies (0.75) — Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, Tiger Jackson, The Redbook, 226