Responding to BAPR In my experience, no lawyer, firm or practice area is immune from grievances with BAPR, and in every practice, however careful, a little rain will fall. Upon receiving a grievance inquiry from BAPR, lawyers should appreciate that they do not lack for good company. They should reply effectively but not overreact. A couple of recommendations for responding to BAPR follow. Although a lawyer is entitled to assert the Fifth Amendment, even with respect to the facts, this is largely unavailing in the disciplinary setting as BAPR will draw the most sinister inferences from such a claim.
Cooperation is appropriate, practical and mandatory.
However, the rule does not call upon lawyers to offer conclusions concerning the applicability of rules cited by BAPR to the extant facts. For example, if the grievance concerns a claimed failure to timely act or communicate upon a matter, the rule requires that you recite the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged failing. Take the gloves off with the complainant in the first response to BAPR, even where the grievant is a current client. Where a complainant misrepresents or inaccurately characterizes the lawyer's conduct, the record must be set straight immediately and persuasively. It is crucial that this be done at the outset of the process because the investigator's impressions about the merits of the grievance will profoundly affect both the course of the investigation and its eventual outcome.