The Florida Bar complaint form, officially called the Inquiry/Complaint Form, is a fillable PDF you download from the Florida Bar’s website, complete under oath, and submit by mail or online to report a Florida attorney for possible ethical misconduct. Filing is free. Before you fill anything out, confirm your issue is one the Bar actually handles, because complaints outside its jurisdiction are dismissed without investigation.
What the Bar Will and Will Not Act On
The Bar enforces the Rules of Professional Conduct in Chapter 4 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar.1The Florida Bar. Rules Regulating The Florida Bar Conduct that commonly triggers investigation includes dishonesty or fraud in the representation, criminal acts bearing on an attorney’s trustworthiness, behavior prejudicial to the administration of justice, claims of improper influence over officials, exploitative sexual conduct with a client, mishandling of client trust funds, ignoring a client’s repeated requests for case updates, conflicts of interest, and refusing to answer the Bar’s own inquiries.2The Florida Bar. Chapter 4 Rules of Professional Conduct – Rule 4-8.4
What the discipline system cannot do matters just as much. It cannot order an attorney to refund you, and it cannot review or overturn a court ruling in your case. Fee disagreements are generally not treated as disciplinary matters unless the fee was clearly excessive, prohibited, or illegal.3The Florida Bar. Consumer Pamphlet: Inquiry/Complaint Concerning a Florida Lawyer Complaints about sitting judges go to the Judicial Qualifications Commission, not the Bar. If money, not ethics, is your real problem, see the last section.
Downloading the Form
Get the Inquiry/Complaint Form from the Bar’s filing page at floridabar.org/public/acap/filing-a-complaint.4The Florida Bar. File a Lawyer Complaint Save the PDF to your computer before you start typing. Filling it out inside a browser window can cause your entries to disappear.
Identifying the Attorney and Yourself
The top section asks for the lawyer’s full name, Bar number, address, email, and phone number. The Bar number is the one field you cannot afford to guess at. Many Florida attorneys share similar names, and the number is the only reliable identifier. Look it up through the “Find A Lawyer” search tool on floridabar.org.5The Florida Bar. The Florida Bar Inquiry/Complaint Form The form also asks for your own name, address, phone, and email so the Bar can send you status updates.
Writing the Narrative
The core of the form is the written account of what happened. Keep it factual and chronological. Start with when you hired the attorney or when the conduct began, then walk through each event in order. Include specific dates, missed deadlines, communications you sent or didn’t get back, and any dollar amounts.
Investigators read your narrative to decide which Rules of Professional Conduct may have been violated, so concrete facts carry the weight. Emotional language does not. If your lawyer stopped returning calls, say exactly when the silence began and how many times you tried to reach them. If a filing deadline was missed, name the deadline and the date it passed.
Attaching Supporting Documents
Attach photocopies of anything that backs up your account: fee agreements, retainer contracts, emails, letters, court filings, canceled checks, and bank statements. Never send originals. The Bar does not return them.5The Florida Bar. The Florida Bar Inquiry/Complaint Form Label each one as an exhibit (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and so on) and refer to those labels in your narrative so an investigator can match each claim to its proof.
Your entire submission, form plus exhibits, cannot exceed 25 pages.4The Florida Bar. File a Lawyer Complaint That cap forces you to pick the documents that most directly prove the misconduct: the retainer showing what you paid, the email containing a false statement, the court docket showing a blown deadline. If you have more relevant material, note in the form that additional evidence is available upon request.
Signing and Submitting
Sign the form. Your signature certifies under penalty of perjury that your statements are true, correct, and complete. The Bar will not consider unsworn complaints.5The Florida Bar. The Florida Bar Inquiry/Complaint Form You then have two ways to send it in:
- By mail to The Florida Bar, 651 E. Jefferson St., Tallahassee, FL 32399.4The Florida Bar. File a Lawyer Complaint
- Online, by uploading the completed PDF and attachments through the Bar’s filing page. Electronic submission is generally faster because the documents reach the disciplinary department immediately.
If you have questions before filing, call the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP) toll-free at 866-352-0707.6The Florida Bar. Lawyer Complaints and Discipline ACAP staff cannot give legal advice, but they can walk you through the process and tell you whether your issue falls within the Bar’s jurisdiction.
What Happens Next
ACAP intake counsel screens every complaint first. If the alleged conduct would not violate any Bar rule warranting discipline even assuming it is true, the inquiry can be dismissed at this stage. If intake counsel finds merit, a formal disciplinary file is opened and the attorney is notified and given 15 days to respond in writing.7The Florida Bar. Lawyer Discipline – A Roadmap to Florida’s Lawyer Regulation System
Cases that get past intake are assigned to Bar counsel at a regional branch office for a deeper investigation, which may include document review, witness interviews, or taking the attorney’s sworn statement. The file is then presented to a grievance committee, which functions like a grand jury and votes on whether probable cause exists. The committee can close the case, recommend mediation or fee arbitration, divert the attorney to a practice enhancement program, issue an admonishment for minor misconduct, or send the case forward for formal prosecution before a referee and the Florida Supreme Court.7The Florida Bar. Lawyer Discipline – A Roadmap to Florida’s Lawyer Regulation System Final sanctions, decided by the Supreme Court, range from a private admonishment through public reprimand, probation, suspension, and disbarment.8The Florida Bar. Frequently Asked Questions You will receive written updates as the matter moves through the stages.
You can tell anyone you filed a complaint. The confidentiality rules at the early stages apply to the Bar’s own records, not to your statements about the process.9The Florida Bar. Lawyer Discipline Process
If Your Real Issue Is Money
Discipline will not get your money back, so the Bar runs two separate programs for that. The Fee Arbitration Program handles disagreements over how much a lawyer charged. It is free and informal, both sides must agree in writing to participate, a single arbitrator decides disputes of $15,000 or less, and a three-member panel including at least one non-lawyer decides larger disputes. Hearings are scheduled within 45 days and a decision issues about 10 days after the hearing closes.10The Florida Bar. Legal Fee Arbitration Program
The Clients’ Security Fund is a last resort for clients whose attorney stole money or took a fee and did no work. Recovery is capped at $5,000 for fees paid with no work performed and $250,000 for misappropriated funds. The fund only pays after the attorney has been suspended, disbarred, had the license revoked, or died, and claims must be filed within three years of that event. It does not cover negligence, malpractice, fee disputes, or business dealings with the lawyer.11The Florida Bar. Clients’ Security Fund