What type of transgression does an attorney have to be guilty of in order to be disbarred?
Commonly, the following rules require lawyers to: – represent their clients with undivided loyalty – keep their clients’ confidences – represent their clients competently – represent their clients within the bounds of the law, and – put their clients’ interests ahead of their own. Each State has a lawyer discipline agency that is supposed to enforce these rules. If a lawyer violates a rule, the agency can impose monetary fines, require the lawyer to make restitution (such as pay back stolen money), suspend a lawyer’s license to practice law for a while, or disbar the attorney. Disbarment, however, is exceedingly rare, and is usually reserved for lawyers with a long record of stealing from clients.
