Grievance Mediation

The Supreme Court of Ohio is given exclusive authority by the Ohio Constitution to regulate the "admission to the practice of law, discipline of persons so admitted, and all other matters relating to the practice of law."' In furtherance of that mandate, the Court has promulgated the Code of Professional Conduct (the Code) and Rules for the Government of the Bar to provide for a system of lawyer discipline in Ohio. It has established a Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline (the Board) to receive evidence, make findings, and submit recommendations to the Court concerning complaints of misconduct against lawyers and judges. It also has provided for both a Disciplinary Counsel and Certified Grievance Committees (CGC's) to investigate and prosecute ethics violations.

This disciplinary system has functioned well to uncover and to sanction serious professional misconduct. Unfortunately, however, the traditional system has not always been able to respond effectively to certain problems between lawyers and clients which, while not rising to the level of an actionable disciplinary violation, nonetheless create friction between consumers of legal services and the profession.

Recognizing this deficiency, the Court has enacted rule changes' which allow CGC's to establish written procedures for handling allegations of client dissatisfaction that do not constitute disciplinary violations, to include mediation, office practice monitoring and other Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods. The Board has specifically authorized the use of ADR in the following situations:

• Fee disputes;
• continued failure of a lawyer to adequately communicate with the client or to inform the client of the progress of the legal matter;
• inactivity on the case, short of neglect;
• attorney lack of diligence;
• failure to timely return client files or documents;
• attorney unilaterally asserting a retaining lien on client files or documents.

For more information on the rules governing grievance mediation, please click here and here.