Filing Complaints About Texas Lawyers

When you need one, a lawyer is an important thing to have in your service, especially considering that for the average person, the services of a lawyer are only needed to handle disputes and other stressful situations. But it's because of the nature of the situations in which a lawyer is required that makes it seem all the worse when you have a lawyer that you feel is not doing their job.

For each state, there are different processes and agencies that can help you if you have some sort of dispute or grievance with your lawyer. For those having problems with Texas lawyers, there are a number of steps that can be taken to work over those grievances.

Try To Work With Your Lawyer

The first step in any sort of dispute with Texas lawyers, particularly minor ones such as a lawyer that is poor about returning phone calls, is to try to work things out with your lawyer yourself. Keep in mind that misunderstandings can happen, so it's best to try to work things out positively rather than create an adversarial relationship with your lawyer.

If you have a problem with your lawyer, such as a need for more information, release of legal records to a new lawyer, or any other thing that is not being addressed, write your request in a letter, without sounding accusatory, and send it to your lawyer's office. This way, your request is harder to ignore than a phone call, and as long as you keep a copy of your letter, you have a record that you did make an attempt to contact your attorney.

Going For Further Help

If you find that you still have problems with your attorney after sending a letter, there are methods for getting the results you need out of Texas lawyers. The next step in this process will be to contact the Client-Attorney Assistance Program (CAAP), which tries to work with Texas lawyers and their clients to solve minor disputes.

The CAAP department attempts to mediate between Texas lawyers and their clients for minor disputes that may not be severe enough to warrant disciplinary action, but they also serve as an information source for clients, letting them know what the next step in filing a grievance with their attorney is, even providing the necessary forms.

The highest authority you can appeal to in the Texas Bar for problems with your attorney is the Chief Disciplinary Counsel, which has the authority to suspend or revoke the licenses for Texas lawyers. This is a serious step for the attorney being accused and for the client with a grievance, so it's best to consult with the CAAP department before determining if the problem is serious enough to warrant this. In the best case, you will never have to utilize any of these steps in order to resolve problems with Texas lawyers, but in the event that you do, it is helpful to know the steps you should take in order to resolve those problems.