Complaint against an attorny

Oppdatert 02.11.2011

Innhold

1. Complaint and compensation
2. Filing a complaint relating to attorney misconduct
3. Filing a complaint relating to attorney fees
4. Right of complaint
5. How do I file a complaint?
6. Complaint deadline
7. What will complaining lead to?
8. The decisions are public
9. Cases decided by conciliation proceedings or court rulings
10. Complaints about attorneys who are not members of the Norwegian Bar Association
11. Complaints against attorneys who act as real estate agents

Complaint and compensation

All attorneys must follow the Rules for Proper Conduct for Attorneys, and you can file a complaint against the attorney if you think that he or she has violated these rules. You may also file a complaint if you think that the attorney is charging an unreasonably high fee. Complaints against attorneys are filed to the Norwegian Bar Association’s secretariat. For further information about the complaint system, please see below.

If the attorney has provided erroneous advice and this has caused you to suffer financial losses, you may be entitled to compensation. You need to file your compensation claim directly to the attorney’s insurance company. All attorneys are required by law to provide security and have an insurance policy to cover such events. You can obtain advice and guidance in connection with a compensation claim directly from the attorney’s guarantor (insurance company). The Norwegian Supervisory Council for Legal Practice (tel. 22 00 75 00) will be able to tell you the name of the insurance company.

Filing a complaint relating to attorney misconduct

If you think that your attorney has performed in a manner incompatible with the proper conduct for attorneys, you may file a complaint to the Norwegian Bar Association’s Disciplinary Committee.

Filing a complaint relating to attorney fees

The Rules for Proper Conduct for Attorneys establish that you are entitled to be notified about the manner in which the attorney has calculated his or her fee. The Norwegian Bar Association has also instructed its members to provide written confirmation before they commence an engagement. This engagement confirmation must notify you of how your attorney’s fees will be calculated. If you subsequently believe that your attorney charged you too much for his or her services, you may file a complaint to the Norwegian Bar Association’s Disciplinary Committee.

You are, however, well-advised to contact your attorney first to ask for an explanation about the fee. If you and the attorney nonetheless are unable to reach an agreement, you can file a complaint.

No tariff exists for how the attorney’s fees are calculated. The disciplinary authority will perform a discretionary assessment of, among other aspects, the work performed by the attorney, elapsed time, the complexity of the work, the assets involved in the case, the case’s significance for the client, and the outcome.

Right of complaint

Anyone whose complaint is based on a legal interest is entitled to file a complaint. In practice this means that the attorney’s client has a right to complain. A complaint may be rejected if it is obviously baseless. Complaints regarding the other party’s attorney may also be filed. Complaints regarding the other party’s attorney are often acquitted if it is obvious that the attorney has carried out the engagement within the framework of the regular performance of functions in his or her client’s interest. It is not unusual that one party is displeased with the other party’s conduct, especially if the case is emotionally stressful for the parties involved.

How do I file a complaint?

All complaints must be submitted in writing and signed. The complaint system is free of charge.

The following items should be included in the complaint:

1. Name and address of the attorney who is the subject of the complaint.

2. Indicate the date you became aware of the matter(s) that is/are the subject of the complaint.

3. Write why you believe the attorney has violated the rules of proper conduct and/or why you believe the demanded fee is too high. Provide a brief presentation of the factual circumstances. It is important, to the extent you can, that you provide dates for all events.

4. Enclose copies of letters and other documents that you believe are relevant to the complaint.

5. Complete an attorney complaint form with declaration of consent to the processing and handling of personal data.

The Norwegian Bar Association cannot process the complaint without a completed and signed attorney complaint form. Documents received without the complaint form attached will be returned to the complainant.

Please send two copies of the signed written complaint enclosed with any documentation you find relevant, in duplicate, and a filled-out and signed consent form to:

Advokatforeningen

Kristian Augustsgt. 9

NO-0164 Oslo

Label the envelope “Disciplinary Complaint”.

The complaint with enclosures will then be forwarded to your attorney for comment. You will be given an opportunity to comment on his or her response. Normally, the parties will be given an opportunity to submit two statements each before the complaint is submitted to the disciplinary committee for processing.

Complaint deadline

A complaint to the Norwegian Bar Association’s Disciplinary Committee must, as a main rule, be submitted no later than six months after the complainant became aware, or should have become aware, of the subject of the complaint.

If, in your opinion, there are special reasons why you are not able to file a complaint within the deadline, you may still be able to submit a complaint later than the deadline. The disciplinary committee will then assess if the complaint should still be processed. However, if the circumstances of your complaint date back more than three years, your complaint will be rejected regardless of your reasons for complaining that late.

What will complaining lead to?

In recent years the Norwegian Bar Association’s Disciplinary Committee has received slightly less than 500 complaints annually. Complaints have been upheld in about 40 percent of all the cases. Sanctions exists of criticism, reprimands or warnings issued to the attorney.

Particularly serious complaints may, in addition, be reported to the Norwegian Bar Association’s Executive Board and to the public supervisory bodies. The most serious cases can therefore result in the attorneys disbarment from the Norwegian Bar Association and/or loss of his or her license to practice law.

Both the complainant and the attorney against whom the complaint was filed may appeal a decision from the Norwegian Bar Association’s Disciplinary Committee to the publicly designated Disciplinary Board.

If your complaint is upheld by the Disciplinary committee/Disciplinary Board, they may order the attorney to pay any expenses you have incurred in connection with the complaint. In that case you need to document the expenses, and you must present a written claim to have your expenses covered in the complaint.

If a complaint relates to the size of the attorney’s fee, the Disciplinary committee/Disciplinary Board may determine that the fee shall be reduced or waived completely. In recent years 50 – 60 complaints annually have resulted in the attorney’s fee claim being completely waived or partially reduced. If an attorney does not repay his fee in accordance with the disciplinary decision made by the Disciplinary Board, you may contact the enforcement officer/enforcement bailiff for assistance in collecting the amount. In that case, please contact the police in your district on telephone 02800. If an attorney does not repay his fee in accordance with the disciplinary decision made by the Disciplinary committee, you may contact the Disciplinary Board on telephone 22 03 50 50.

The decisions are public

All Disciplinary committee and Disciplinary Board decisions are available to the public dating back to January 1 2005. This means that you may contact the Norwegian Bar Association’s secretariat to learn if an attorney has been subject to a decision in the disciplinary system after this date. Call the Norwegian Bar Association on telephone number 22 03 50 50 or send an e-mail to post@advokatforeningen.no.

Cases decided by conciliation proceedings or court rulings

The Norwegian Bar Association’s Disciplinary Committee and the publicly designated Disciplinary Board cannot process a complaint if the case is also being brought before a court of law. This means that a complaint in progress may be stopped.

Decisions relating to a reduction of fees are binding unless they are subsequently brought before a court of law.

Complaints about attorneys who are not members of the Norwegian Bar Association

More than 90 percent of all attorneys in this country are members of the Norwegian Bar Association, and all attorneys found on Advokatenhjelperdeg.no are members of the association.

Please note that complaints regarding attorneys who are not members of the Norwegian Bar Association may be subject to a somewhat different procedure than what is described above. Complaints against non-members may go directly to the publicly designated Disciplinary Board.

Complaints against attorneys who act as real estate agents

Some attorneys work with real estate and are affiliated Reklamasjonsnemnda for eiendomsmeglingssaker (The Complaint Board for Real Estate Agency Cases). If you have a complaint regarding real estate business and the attorney is affiliated this committee, the complaint must be sent to them.

Please note that The Complaint Board for Real Estate Agency Cases requires a case processing fee. This amount, however, will be refunded to you if your complaint is upheld. The Complaint Board for Real Estate Agency Cases was established by the Norwegian Association of Real Estate Agents, the Norwegian Bar Association, the Association of Real Estate Agency Firms and the Norwegian Consumer Council.