Illinois Report Shows Nearly 3/4 Of Sanctioned Attorneys Were Solos

The Illinois Attorney Grievance and Registration Commission Annual Report for 2011 is available on the ARDC web page.

The report is a treasure trove of information about complaints, investigations and sanctions broken down by age, gender, practice setting, areas of law and other factors that gives a comprehensive understanding of the workings of the Illinois disciplinary process.

One highlight: Of 165 lawyers disciplined in 2011, 120 were solo practicioners, 28 were in firms of 2 to 10 attorneys, one was in a firm of 11 to 25 attorneys, six in larger firms, four in government or judicial positions, three in-house and three “no practice.”

And in a tribute to David Letterman, we have the “top ten” causes of trust account overdrafts:

1. check issued against uncollected funds (post-dated check syndrome).

2. deposited item returned.

3. failure to make timely deposit.

4. failure to account for bank fees.

5. on-line computer banking errors.

6. telephone banking errors.

7. using account for personal purposes.

8. lawyer math errors.

9. using wrong checkbook.

and…

10. it was the bank’s fault.

As I may have have mentioned before, you could not get this type of information about the D.C. system with a crowbar.

Response to question: How many Bars provide this type of information online? My guess is maybe a half dozen or so –Michigan and Maryland have reports tha I have seen.

This Illinois one linked above is notable for the depth of the information. (Mike Frisch)