The Justice Network
The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service (LRS)
The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service (LRS), provides referrals to attorneys who will conduct an initial one-half hour office consultation for $25. Here is a
link to the LRS webpage
Participating attorneys are required to submit an extensive application to the service and they must be a member in good standing of The Florida Bar with no pending
probable cause complaints. Referral Service attorneys also are required to have professional liability insurance with limits of not less than $100,000. LRS also has established Low Fee, Elderly, AIDS
Law and Disability Law panels for clients in need. You can read the application here:
LRS, membership application.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [221.3 KB]
The LRS fails to prominently disclose that the lawyer must pay the bar 12% of the fees collected from the client to whom the referral is made. Reference to the 12%
fee is found twice, page 6 and page 9 of the application.
Lawyer Referral Rule 8-1.1, Statement of Policy and Purposes, states that "Every citizen of the state should have access to the legal system" … and (a) "make legal services readily available to the
general public through a referral method that considers the client’s financial circumstances…"
The Florida Bar LRS application, Rules, IV, states that the lawyer, in filing an application as provided, agrees to charge for further services only as agreed upon with the client in keeping with the
stated objectives of the Service and the client’s ability to pay, carry, and continue to carry, professional liability insurance with limits not less than $100,000, permit any dispute concerning fees
arising from a referral to be submitted to binding arbitration if the client so petitions.
LRS Operating Procedures.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [183.8 KB]
LRS Client Survey.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [78.7 KB]
Does the LRS succeed in its mission?
Robert Bauer
In my opinion, no.
Attorney Robert W. Bauer of Gainesville was a referral from the Florida Bar. Read more here
Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP)
Note: The following was my experience beginning in 2003. Procedures may have changed since that time. Contact The Florida Bar or a licensed attorney for current rules and procedures.
For consumers who have a problem with an attorney, The Florida Bar has ACAP - the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP)
Consumers are forewarned before using ACAP, you could be accused of criminal extortion by the complained-about lawyer.
This is what happened when I followed ACAP's procedure.
On June 12, 2003 I called Donald M. Spangler of the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program. Mr. Spangler assigned reference no. 03-18867 to the matter. Upon a review of
the facts as I described, Mr. Spangler said I could make a bar complaint. He also said I could contact Mr. Cook to try and settle the matter. The Florida Bar complaint form specifically states "…you
should attempt to resolve your matter by writing to the subject attorney, before contacting ACAP or filing a complaint. Even if this is unsuccessful, it is important that you do so in order to have
documentation of good-faith efforts to resolve your matter."
I wrote Mr. Cook the next day, June 13, 2003, in a good faith effort to resolve the matter. I included a spreadsheet showing how I arrived at the proposed resolution.
Mr. Cook’s law partner Chris A. Barker responded to me by letter of June 19, 2003. Mr. Barker misquoted my good faith effort to resolve this matter through ACAP, called it a "threat", and accused me
of felony extortion. This is what Mr. Barker wrote: "We consider this threat to be extortionate. See § 836.05 Fla. Stat. (2000); Carricarte v. State, 384 So.2d 1261 (Fla. 1980); Cooper v.
Austin, 750 So.2d 711 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); Gordon v. Gordon, 625 So.2d 59 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993); Berger v. Berger, 466 So.2d 1149 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)".
On January 19, 2006 Mr. Cook’s law partner Ryan Christopher Rodems sued me for libel and included the above accusation of felony extortion. I contacted The Florida Bar
about this several times and received little more than excuses. I wrote Mr. Spangler twice in October 2007, and also to the Tampa Chief Branch Disciplinary Counsel Susan Varner Bloemendaal, all to no
avail.
So far considerable expense has been accrued defending this bogus accusation of libel and extortion. Mr. Rodems was able to obtain bad-faith sanctions of $11,550 when I
asserted a misplaced defense of economic loss agsint his claim of libel. Mr. Rodems garnished my bank account and my former lawyer.
So think carefully before you get involved with ACAP. It could result in accusations against you which are expensive to defend, in both dollars and human
suffering.
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