Colorado Bar Association — Local services in Denver

I went to the CBA because of an attorney communication issue that I was having during my divorce. The website says that they can help you get in contact with your attorney when you are unable to. I had no other options so I called them for help. After my initial interview I was asked to send any documentation that could aid them in their investigation. My complaint had enough validity to get past the initial complaint stage, but as I said before I only wanted help getting in contact with. attorney, as my final hearing was less than 2 weeks away. My attorney failed to respond to the Attorney Regulations Counsels attempts to get a response from her. 4 days before the trial, I was finally contacted by my attorney and a settlement was agreed to. After the Final Orders Hearing 4 days later, the Attorney Regulation Counsel finally got in contact with my attorney to let her know about my complaint against her. That's when things went south. My attorney told me to call the counsel and let them know that I wanted to rescind my complaint, as there was finally a settlement in my case. I did so, even though it was inappropriate of her to ask such a request from me, but I feared retaliation so I called and told them everything my attorney wanted me to tell them. The investigator, based on my interview and my attorneys failure to respond to them, let me know that they would still like to move forward with the investigation and wanted my cooperation. So I compiled and personally dropped off the 100+ pages of evidence that I had. When my attorney found out that the investigation was still ongoing, she threatened to withdraw from my case, which got extended yet again due to negligence. My attorney failed to respond to 2 official requests from the counsel, which is a giant NoNo in this situation. She also withdrew from my case 2 weeks before my new final orders hearing and handed me a billing statement that was outrageously high when compared to the work done on my case. My complaint eventually went to the next stage and i was interviewed once again. I also provided even more documents proving the negligence and misconduct. After almost 7 months of investigating, I received a letter stating that the counsel found that misconduct and negligence had occurred, and that the attorney received a private admonishment. A private admonishment is when misconduct occurs and all parts of the investigation are hidden from the public, including myself. Although misconduct occurred, it was swept under the rug and no one will ever know. The Attorney Regulation Counsel is there to protect the public from attorneys that knowingly act unethically and violate the rules set by Bar Association. Instead they only look after each other. I would be quite upset if I hired an attorney, only to find out later that other complaints had been made private to the public. The lack of transparency serves no purpose and only harms the public. I can only equate the police officer complaints system, where the investigation is conducted by other police officers. The outcomes of these complaints rarely end in public discipline. The lack of accountability and more notably, transparency, only teaches those that break the rules that they are protected and can get away with it without public censor. They will continue to break the rules at the expense of us, the public. Don't waste your time and energy making a complaint on an attorney. Your energy will be better spent on taking them to court. There can be no trust or change without transparency....

There is a lawyer here that is awesome. I can not say his name but he helped me get some compensation from being completely devastated by a lawyer who screwed me over so badly I didn't think I would recover. So thanks to that guy I was able to make my recovery alot easier. Thanks Colorado bar association for keeping dishonest lawyers in check. If you have ever been taken advantage by a lawyer are sure to report them immediately to the bar association. It's not hard and they will have your back. You must be sure to have kept good notes about your case and be very specific as to what was done incorrectly. They will do an actual investigation and they will help you if you can prove your case...make sure to record conversations or meetings with your lawyer. They know the law but that doesn't make them law-abiding citizens per say. Just because they swore an oath to be ethical and uphold the law that doesn't always mean they will. Lawyers are humans too. That means they're not perfect despite what you may believe. They will also have anterior motives and may be friends with the other side of the table. Meaning they could help the prosecution or defense depending what side of the table your on. It sucks, and it's a mistake I made because I didn't know where or how to even start to research lawyers, but always do a little research on the lawyer your going to hire. Had I even researched a little I would gave found that my lawyer had 4 prior complaints against him and I wouldn't have used him at all. But I didn't know and knowing is half the battle. Start your research on lawyers by going to the bar association website and search the lawyer you are thinking of using. Or you can use their website to find a licensed lawyer in the topic area you need. It's not hard and could possibly save you a ton of time and headaches. It would have saved me 2 years worth of litigation after my case was over. So it's definitely worth using them as a resource to research lawyers. Good...

Philip Palmer is my appointed lawyer in La Junta Colorado. He makes inappropriate comments to me and said he was going to force my children to live in Missouri and force me to stay in Colorado. Their father lives in Missouri and accepted charges for Menacing, 3rd degree battery, child abuse and domestic violence. I have no charges. The father of my children was going to drive me and our toddler children off a mountain and that's why I filed for divorce. Philip Palmer was asked to get two subpoenas and he can't even get one subpoena. When court was by phone call, He Gave Me The Wrong Number! When the judge asks if Philip Palmer wishes to ask any questions or have any input he says no that he's just there to listen to the case and that's all. This man is trying to intentionally give my toddler children to a person who tried to kill them and doesn't even care about their safety. Do not for one second trust this poor excuse of a man. He literally doesn't care about anyone that represents and loses on purpose. He even makes inappropriate comments about my income and covets my money. All the clients that he has is not doing good in court and a lot of them are not able to win or even call in on important court dates. I figure he is giving them the wrong number like he did me! Don't waste your time with a...