San Diego County Bar Criminal Defense Attorney Fee Arbitration – A Cautionary Tale

So you think that complaining to the San Diego County Bar Association about legal services will help you resolve your problem? Read on!!

Almost two years ago a criminal defense client went to the San Diego County Bar Association Arbitration Committee to seek arbitration of an allegedly unconscionable fee. That’s lawyer-speak for charging way too much for legal services.

The case involved relatively low-key drug charges, and a criminal defense client with no criminal history. The drug involved was marijuana, there were no accusations of crimes of violence, it was a simple matter of drug transportation. It should have been uncomplicated enough.

Unfortunately, the criminal defense lawyer who handled the case was borderline incompetent. His idea of aggressive representation on a criminal defense matter was to misunderstand the offer from the San Diego District Attorney, and miscommunicate with his client. Result? Attorney spends minimal time on the case, the client is convicted, and more than $20,000 in fees were considered “earned” by the law firm.

Needless to say, the client sought a refund which was denied. The next step was to go to arbitration with the San Diego County Bar Association.

The SDCBA agreed that the fees were outrageous, and awarded more than $15,000 in fees to be returned to the client. That was the last thing SDCBA’s arbitrator got right. Unfortunately for the client, the lawyer in charge of the arbitration ordered that the money be repaid by THE WRONG PEOPLE! Those lawyers wrongly identified by the SDCBA arbitration lawyer spent months trying to clarify the mistake – which should have been obvious to a 10 year old – with the full cooperation of the client who agreed that they were NOT the ones who owed the money. Countless emails, letters and phone calls were made to the lawyer/arbitrator. Unfortunately, delay and indifference were the only responses. The result of the arbitration failure was that the luckless client waited almost a year to receive any refund.

If it weren’t for the actions of those wrongly ordered to pay the money back, there may never have been any refund at all. So make sure you clarify who you want your money from if you find yourself in arbitration with the San Diego County Bar Association – apparently their lawyer/arbitrators can’t figure it out on their own!