      |
|
          
|
HOW TO
SUBMIT A REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION Filing a Request for an Investigation of an Attorney | Effect on Your Legal Rights | Other Information Provided by the ARDC | Request for Investigation Form OTHER INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE ARDC
What Information Can the ARDC Give Me About an Attorney? What Information Can the ARDC Give Me About an Attorney? You may call or come in person to either our Chicago or Springfield offices and we can give you an attorney's registration information, such as name, law firm, business address and telephone number, and the date the attorney was first licensed to practice in Illinois. We can tell you if the attorney is currently registered and authorized to practice law ("good standing"), if the attorney has been disciplined in the past and if there are any pending formal complaints. The fact that a request for an investigation was filed, and whether an investigation is closed or pending, is confidential and will not be disclosed. If I Need to Hire an Attorney, Where Do I Go? We cannot give referrals for lawyers to handle your matter. However, many bar associations have referral lists that can give you the names of lawyers practicing in certain areas of the law. Two of the larger bar association referral programs are:
The Chicago Volunteer Legal Foundation (312/332/1624) provides referrals for low-income people in the Chicago area. For the listing of other bar association referral services in other locations or the listing of legal services organizations, you may wish to consult with the American Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service Directory (www.abanet.org/referral/home.html), a list of other lawyer referral services on the Illinois Lawyer Finder website (www.illinoislawyerfinder.com) or by calling the ARDC.
What
if I Have a Dispute With My Attorney Over the Amount of Fees?
The propriety of the fee which an attorney charges a client depends both on the agreement between the lawyer and the client and on certain limitations under the ethics rules. We may initiate an investigation into a lawyer’s fee if the fee charged or the fee agreement is improper under the ethics rules, violates a court order or statute, is fraudulent, or keeps a fee paid in advance that was not earned. Many fee issues that are brought to our attention involve a general dissatisfaction with the amount of fee charged based on the results obtained by the lawyer. Those types of concerns are not ordinarily a basis of discipline. In those situations, if you and the lawyer are unable to resolve the dispute, the matter may be resolved by court action or arbitration. Several bar associations operate fee arbitration committees.
The following is a list of some of the Illinois bar associations that
provide fee arbitration services: Chicago Bar Association
(www.chicagobar.org) DuPage County Bar Association (www.dcba.org) Peoria County Bar Association (www.peoriabar.org) Kane County Bar Association (www.kanecountybar.org)
Bureau County Bar Association (Bureau County residents and lawyers
only) You may also want to check with the bar association for
your county to see if they provide this service.
What
if I Have a Complaint About a Judge?
Complaints about the conduct of judges should be directed to the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board. To obtain a complaint form or for information about the Board, please visit the Board’s website at
www.state.il.us/jib or write the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board, Suite
14-500, 100 W. Randolph Drive, Chicago, IL 60601 312/814-5554. |
