To report an Arizona attorney for ethical misconduct, you file the State Bar of Arizona’s Charge of Misconduct form, which is the Arizona State Bar complaint form used for lawyers, licensed legal paraprofessionals, alternative business structures, and unlicensed people practicing law in the state.1State Bar of Arizona. Charge of Misconduct There is no fee. Most complaints start with a call to the Bar’s Intake Department, followed by the written form submitted online or by mail. The Bar acts as the regulatory arm of the Arizona Supreme Court, and filing the form triggers a structured review that can end anywhere from dismissal to disbarment.
Make Sure Your Complaint Fits
The Bar investigates violations of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct, codified in Arizona Supreme Court Rule 42.2New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Rule 42 Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct Conduct that commonly draws discipline includes neglecting a legal matter, failing to communicate with a client, mishandling funds held in trust, and representing conflicting interests without proper disclosure. A lawyer who stops returning calls, misses filing deadlines, or deposits your settlement check into a personal account is doing exactly what the Bar exists to address.
What the Bar will not do is second-guess strategy or resolve disappointment with an outcome. Choosing one legal argument over another is a judgment call, not an ethics violation. Fee disputes sit in a gray area: the Bar can act when fees are clearly unreasonable, but a routine billing disagreement usually does not rise to that level.
If the Dispute Is Really About the Fee
If your problem is mainly the amount you were charged, the State Bar’s free Fee Arbitration Program is often a better route than a misconduct charge. An arbitrator decides what a reasonable fee should have been for the work performed, and the award is binding. The disputed amount must be at least $1,000, both sides must agree to participate, and no litigation over the same fee can be pending. The program’s number is 602-340-7379.3State Bar of Arizona. Fee Arbitration Program
Start With the Intake Hotline
Most misconduct complaints begin with a call to the Intake Department Hotline. An Intake Assistant opens an electronic file and takes down the basics: your name and contact information, the name of the lawyer or other respondent, whether the respondent represents you or someone else, the court and case number if a case is pending, and a short description of what happened.4State Bar of Arizona. Submitting a Charge You do not need every detail ready for this first call.
After the hotline, an Intake Bar Counsel takes over, contacts you for the full story, and may tell you upfront whether your facts actually implicate an ethics rule or belong somewhere else. Complaints that sound serious but fall outside the Bar’s authority often get redirected here, and genuinely meritorious charges start gaining traction.
What to Put on the Form
The Charge of Misconduct form is available through the Bar’s online portal at tools.azbar.org/ChargeOfMisconduct. The core of it is a written narrative. Write it in chronological order and anchor each event to a specific date. Say what the lawyer did or failed to do, what you expected based on your agreement or the law, and how the conduct affected your legal matter. Stick to facts. “Attorney did not respond to three emails sent on June 4, June 11, and June 18” lands with a reviewer in a way that “Attorney clearly didn’t care about my case” does not.
You also identify whether the respondent represents you or someone else, and if a court case is involved, list the court and case number. Include the attorney’s State Bar number if you have it; the Bar can look up the respondent by name if you don’t.
Documents to Attach
Attach copies of anything that supports your account: fee agreements, engagement letters, emails and texts, court filings, billing statements, and bank records showing fund transfers. The stronger the paper trail, the less the Bar has to rely on competing recollections. Send copies, not originals, so you keep a complete set for yourself.
Organize the documents in the same chronological order as your narrative, and note which document ties to which event. Reviewers handle a heavy volume of complaints, and anything you do to shorten the time they spend piecing together the timeline works in your favor.
How to Submit
You can submit the completed form electronically through the Bar’s portal at tools.azbar.org/ChargeOfMisconduct and upload your supporting documents there.1State Bar of Arizona. Charge of Misconduct To mail a paper copy, send it to the State Bar of Arizona at 4201 N. 24th Street, Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ 85016-6266.5Arizona Office of the Courts. How Can I Make a Complaint Against My Attorney
What Happens After You File
The Intake Bar Counsel investigates the charge, which can include contacting the respondent, reviewing documents, and coming back to you with follow-up questions. At the end of intake, the Bar Counsel dismisses the matter (sometimes with an instructional comment to the respondent), offers diversion for remedial measures like continuing legal education, or refers the matter for a full screening investigation.4State Bar of Arizona. Submitting a Charge Many lower-level violations are resolved at this stage.
If the matter moves to screening, a litigation attorney in the Bar’s Litigation Department sends the charge to the respondent and requests a written response. The respondent can get one extension of up to 20 days; anything beyond that requires approval from the Chief Bar Counsel for good cause.6State Bar of Arizona. The Discipline Process You are entitled to a copy of that initial response, except for any portions covered by a protective order.7New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Rule 53 Complainants
If the litigation attorney recommends discipline or diversion, the recommendation goes to the Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee, which can affirm it, change it, dismiss the matter, or send it back for more investigation.8Arizona Judicial Branch. Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee More serious sanctions, or a respondent’s objection to an informal one, move the case into formal proceedings before the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, with a full hearing if the case does not settle.6State Bar of Arizona. The Discipline Process
As a complainant, you are not a party to the disciplinary proceeding, but you have the right to be notified of key developments, including any recommendation for discipline or diversion and the date and location of public hearings.7New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Rule 53 Complainants Keep your address current with the Bar; updates go to the last address on file.
Possible Outcomes
- Dismissal, when the charge does not describe a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
- Diversion to remedial measures such as continuing legal education or law-office management assistance. Diversion is not discipline; it is an alternative to it.
- Admonition or probation as informal sanctions for lower-level violations, sometimes with restitution or costs.
- Reprimand, a formal public sanction issued by the Presiding Disciplinary Judge or the Supreme Court.
- Suspension of the respondent’s license for a defined period.
- Disbarment or license revocation, permanently ending the right to practice law in Arizona.
Only the Presiding Disciplinary Judge or the Arizona Supreme Court can impose reprimand, suspension, or disbarment.6State Bar of Arizona. The Discipline Process
If You Also Lost Money
A Bar complaint and a malpractice lawsuit do different jobs and can run at the same time. The disciplinary process holds lawyers accountable to professional standards, but it does not award you money. To recover a financial loss caused by your lawyer’s conduct, you file a separate civil malpractice case, where you have to prove the lawyer owed you a duty, breached it through negligence or misconduct, and that the breach directly caused financial harm.
Filing a Bar complaint does not pause any statute of limitations on a malpractice claim, and the Bar’s findings do not automatically establish liability in court. If you think you have both an ethical complaint and a financial injury, pursue both tracks: the Charge of Misconduct through the Bar, and a civil case through an attorney who handles legal malpractice.