Over at Legal Blog Watch, I have written frequently about the series of ethics complaints filed in some 47 states by a Connecticut lawyer against Total Attorneys. (See, for example, my posts here, here and here.) No state has found any ethical wrongdoing by Total Attorneys or by any of the lawyers who participate in it.
However, in one state, Connecticut, the chief disciplinary counsel found cause to file charges against five attorneys, alleging that they were obtaining referrals through and sharing fees with Total Attorneys in violation of legal ethics rules.
Now comes news that the Connecticut charges have been dismissed. According to an e-mail I received from Total Attorneys, a three-person panel of the Connecticut Statewide Grievance Committee dismissed the complaints on Friday. According to the e-mail, the panel dismissed the charges at the close of the disciplinary counsel’s evidence, before the attorneys were even required to put on their defense. This would suggest that the panel saw no even arguable ethics violation in the case presented by the disciplinary counsel.