Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California

I terminated my relationship with my lawyer in May of last year. I was so disgusted with the lawyer I filed a bar complaint, in which there was not enough proof to charge her. Now the lawyer I fired over 7 months ago keeps trying to charge me for the amount of work he did while defending the bar claim, and is sending me bills. Here are my questions:

1. Can create a lawsuit against me since I filed a bar complaint and he was not charged? I.e. extortion, libel, etc, in light of the fact there were no lies just not enough proof.

2. How likely am I to win an arbitration case against the attorney, and how likely am I to win an appeal to the state bar on the complaint with no new evidence?

3. How can I make the lawyer not send me anymore bills and not send it to collections since I have an email from him saying I have a $0 balance but they keep sending me bills?


Asked on 12/22/10, 12:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

You refer to the attorney as a he, and also as a her. Was there more than one attorney involved?

California provides tort immunity to reporters. (Civ. Code, �. 47 subd. (b).) Even defamatory reports to the State Bar are privileged. (Rosenthal v. Vogt (1991) 229 Cal. App. 3d 69, 73.) Absolute privilege applies to complaints, communications and proceedings, and bars all torts except malicious prosecution. (Chen v. Fleming (1983) 147 Cal. App. 3d 36 cf. Lebbos v. State Bar (1985) 165 Cal. App. 3d 656, 669.)

With that said, people must be cautious when filing complaints with the State Bar. The State Bar has authority to refer a case involving a clearly frivolous complaint to the District Attorney for criminal charges pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 6043.5 subdivision (b).

It does not seem right that the attorney is sending you bills for his time incurred in responding to the State Bar's investigation. An attorney has a statutory duty to cooperated with a Bar investigation, and I doubt that your retainer agreement provided for you payment of that.

I suggest that you file a supplemental complaint, well written, and pointing out the subsequent billing.

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Answered on 12/27/10, 1:52 pm


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