The Florida Bar
651 E. Jefferson Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300
Toll Free 1-866-352-0707 (ACAP)
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS YOU MUST READ PRIOR TO FILLING OUT THE INQUIRY/COMPLAINT
FORM
Please read all instructions carefully before completing the inquiry/complaint form. If the form is not properly completed it may be returned for correction. You may submit up to 25 pages including the inquiry/complaint form. If you have not already done so, you should contact the Attorney/Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP) at the above toll free number, to see if they can help resolve the matter about which you wish to complain. Please print or type in black ink only.
PLEASE NOTE: The Florida Bar cannot intervene on your behalf in a civil or criminal case, nor can we give you legal advice. We do not have jurisdiction to consider complaints against judges and many elected officials. Our lawyer regulation department considers whether an attorney has violated our rules of conduct and determines whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the attorney should receive some type of discipline. The level of investigation varies depending on the complexity of the allegations. If your inquiry/complaint is closed, you will receive a written explanation of the reasons why. There is no right to appeal a decision not to pursue an investigation.
PART ONE – Complainant Information. You must give your name, address and phone number. If you have an email address, please provide that information as well. If you have already contacted ACAP, please indicate your ACAP reference number in the space provided. If you have previously filed a complaint with our office against a member of The Florida Bar, please indicate how many complaints you have filed. If your inquiry/complaint pertains to a matter currently in litigation, please indicate that in the space provided.
PART TWO – Attorney Information. You must give the name, address and phone number of the subject attorney. The address of the attorney is particularly important as many lawyers have the same or similar names. List only one attorney per form (you may copy this form if you need additional copies). The Florida Bar processes inquiry/complaint forms only against individual attorneys, not against law firms.
PART THREE – Facts/Allegations. Describe each thing about which you are complaining. Recite all of the details, in chronological order, supplying dates where possible. Please number any additional pages you attach. If you have letters, documents or other evidence, you should attach photocopies (DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS). It is helpful if you mark your attachments as exhibits (A, B, C, etc.), and refer to them in your description of your complaint. Please be aware that simply alleging conclusions without setting out facts that support those conclusions will result in the need for the Bar to ask you for additional information and may delay a disposition of your complaint.
PART FOUR – Witnesses. Your inquiry/complaint will be considered even if there are no witnesses. If you have witnesses, attach an additional sheet, listing nothing but witnesses, with the name, address and telephone number for each witness, and include a brief description of the facts about which that witness would testify. If you do not attach a list of witnesses, we will presume that you have no witnesses, other than the attorney and yourself.
PART FIVE – Signature. You must sign the form and certify under penalty of perjury that your allegations are true.
Unsworn complaints are not considered. Submit the original inquiry/complaint form to our office via U.S. Mail. Photocopies of your signature are not accepted.
RETURN TO:
The Florida Bar
Attorney/Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP)
651 East Jefferson Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300
NOTICE
Mailing Instructions
The Florida Bar converts its disciplinary files to electronic media. All submissions are being scanned into an electronic record and hard copies are discarded. To help ensure the timely processing of your inquiry/complaint, please review the following guidelines prior to submitting it to our office.
1.Please limit your submission to no more than 25 pages including exhibits. If you have additional documents available, please make reference to them in your written submission as available upon request. Should Bar counsel need to obtain copies of any such documents, a subsequent request will be sent to you.
2.Please do not bind, or index your documents. You may underline but do not highlight documents under any circumstances. We scan documents for use in our disciplinary files and when scanned, your document highlighting will either not be picked up or may obscure any underlying text.
3.Please refrain from attaching media such as audio tapes or CDs, oversized documents, or photographs. We cannot process any media that cannot be scanned into the electronic record.
4.Please do not submit your original documents. All documents will be discarded after scanning and we will not be able to return any originals submitted to our office. The only original document that should be provided to our office is the inquiry/complaint form.
5.Please do not submit confidential or privileged information. Documents submitted to our office become public record. Confidential/privileged information should be redacted. Such information includes, but is not limited to, bank account numbers, social security numbers, credit card account numbers, medical records, dependency matters, termination of parental rights, guardian ad litem records, child abuse records, adoption records, documents containing names of minor children, original birth and death certificates, Baker Act records, grand jury records, and juvenile delinquency records. If information of this nature is important to your submission, please describe the nature of the information and indicate that it is available upon request. Bar counsel will contact you to make appropriate arrangements for the protection of any such information that is required as part of the investigation of the complaint.
Please be aware that materials received that do not meet these guidelines may be returned. Thank you for your consideration in this respect.
The Florida Bar
Inquiry/Complaint Form
PART ONE (See Page 1, PART ONE – Complainant Information.):
Your Name: _________________________________________________________________________
Organization: ________________________________________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip Code: __________________________________________________________________
Telephone: __________________________________________________________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________________________________________________
ACAP Reference No.: _________________________________________________________________
Have you ever filed a complaint against a member of The Florida Bar: Yes |
No |
If yes, how many complaints have you filed? ______ |
|
Does this complaint pertain to a matter currently in litigation? Yes |
No |
PART TWO (See Page 1, PART TWO – Attorney Information.):
Attorney’s Name: _____________________________________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip Code: __________________________________________________________________
Telephone: __________________________________________________________________________
PART THREE (See Page 1, PART THREE – Facts/Allegations.): The specific thing or things I
am complaining about are: (attach additional sheets as necessary)
PART FOUR (See Page 1, PART FOUR – Witnesses.): The witnesses in support of my
allegations are: [see attached sheet].
PART FIVE (See Page 1, PART FIVE – Signature.): Under penalties of perjury, I declare that the foregoing facts are true, correct and complete.
_________________________________________________
Print Name
_________________________________________________
Signature
_________________________________________________
Date
