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I'll put a caveat on this. I've had attorneys represent me in a few matters during the course of my life. I'll say that with all the attorneys I've retained (not that many thank goodness) I considered each one at the very least ethical. With that said we hear about crooked lawyers alot, lawyers get disbarred all the time, etc. In your opinion how prevelant are lawyers that cheat their clients by embezzling money, misappropriating funds and such? I'm not talking about stuff that's on the edge but stuff that can clearly get them disbarred and/or a criminal conviction. How hard is it to catch a lawyer that's adept at cheating their clients? What things should we be looking for and/or how might we safeguard ourselves?
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I'd say very few. I've had literally hundreds of litigation opponents and can't think of even one that I thought was corrupt to the bone. Then again, my firm tended only to get involved in serious cases; as one high-school friend of mine who had his own practice said, I practiced "in rarefied air." I think most of the problems with counsel come from guys who overcommit themselves or who have alcohol or drug problems. Just to use an example, I thought Cochran was willing to lie at the drop of a pin --but he was lying on behalf of his clients. At the same time, I thought he was an effective advocate who thought that what he was doing was for the greater good. And I have no reason at all to think he ever stole a dime from his own clients.
I think the sort of thing you're talking about is very hard to detect.
That said, I think there are quite a few lawyers that will misrepresent facts or law to a court, either out of laziness or short-term greed. That's just doing a poor job, though, and is really different from what you're talking about.
For a rather ridiculous example of what I'm taling about, see the link here:
http://online.wsj.com/public/resourc...aw_nycourt.pdf
I applaud anyone who has the fortitude to wade through that entire opinion. The lawyer it discusses at length is just what I'm talking about -- hyperaggressive, disingenuous, unethical. But I have no reason to think she'd embezzle or steal from her clients: it's really just a horrifically twisted sense of advocacy.