The case ended simply enough -- a settlement with money up front for David Bright's troubles and another sum to go to a trust fund for his daughter, who had been injured by a baby sitter.

The legal system seemed to work just fine.

The judge even asked him before he signed the agreement in court, "Have you been happy with the services of your attorney?"

"Yes, very," Bright said.

But that was before the money disappeared.

That was when his attorney still had his license and stood as one trustworthy looking face among the more than 11,000 men and women practicing law in Oklahoma.

The check for $ 4,082 never made it to his daughter's trust fund at a Claremore bank. His Tulsa attorney never returned another phone call.

"It's like buying something without warning," Bright said. "You don't know if someone is a good attorney until all the money is gone."

Bright could ask the same question that Oklahoma Bar Association attorney Dan Murdock uses as the title of one the many seminars he gives on lawyer professionalism and ethics:

"Atticus Finch, Where Are You?"

Finch is the revered lawyer in fiction, portrayed in Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." He defends a black man when no one else will. Atticus is a man of convictions, raw integrity.

"I remember that scene (in the movie adaptation)," Murdock said. "When Atticus Finch leaves the courtroom and the people in the gallery stand and applaud . . .

"The only way to get that respect back is to earn it."

The problem, though, is that the bad lawyers keep making the rest look bad. And when a lawyer goes bad, it's often hard for the customer to do anything about it.

Discipline, when it is levied from state bar associations, won't make an abused consumer whole. A legal malpractice suit, if an attorney is willing to take up the case, promises to be a long, expensive battle fought on the opposing attorney's home turf.

At almost every turn, lawyers stand at the gates, lawyers judging lawyers.

Bright was able to get help because, in his case, his former attorney stands accused of several egregious acts involving several different clients, all of whom are listed in a complaint sent by the bar to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Bright was one of 10 people in 1998 who were reimbursed by the state bar through contributions by lawyers to the Client's Security Fund for losses involving lawyers who have been disbarred or had their licenses suspended.

The fund is just one thing among the efforts lawyers undertake to protect their profession. The bar also provides constant and required seminars of continuing legal education reinforcing the ethics and skills of good law practice.

"Lawyers don't want bad lawyers practicing law," Murdock said.

It's not a problem of standards. The 136-page printout of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct on Murdock's desk defies a stapler and requires a heavy duty clip for binding.

The state bar receives roughly 1,500 complaints a year, and his office reads each one and formally investigates any case where, if proven, a lawyer would have violated any of those rules, Murdock said.

Investigators present their findings to a panel of lawyers and laypeople -- 441 cases in 1998 -- and either dismiss the case, issue private warnings or reprimands, or send formal charges for discipline to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

In 1998, the Supreme Court acted on 34 cases, disbarring four attorneys, suspending eight and censuring or reprimanding seven others. Seven attorneys resigned, and eight cases were dismissed.

In deference to good lawyers, Murdock pointed out that the number of attorneys who receive complaints, and even more so the number who actually get disciplined, represents a small percentage of the more than 11,000 licensed attorneys in Oklahoma.

On the other hand, many observers of the legal profession add that the state bars can't touch other attorneys who also could use some discipline.

"Bar discipline is good for drunks and outright thieves," said Jim Turner, executive director of the Washington consumer group Helping Abolish Legal Tyranny (HALT). "But when cases are more subtle, it's not that good."

"Their resources are extremely limited," Tulsa attorney Clifford Ribner said of the state bar's staff of four attorneys and three investigators.

"Their intentions are good, but you have to question whether they can investigate the sophisticated malfeasance that some attorneys can do. Proving that kind of stuff is tough."

The bar suspended the license of an attorney, Grover Miskovsky, who was charged in Oklahoma County for child molestation and accepted the resignation of another attorney, Bruce Mitchell Brill, who was arrested on similar charges.

But former Tulsa District Judge James Hogue, who was charged with but acquitted of the theft of the estate of an elderly woman whom he served as a trustee, remains a licensed attorney in the Oklahoma Bar.

Legal advisers suggest that a consumer who believes his attorney is neglecting or mishandling his case first should try to confront the attorney and resolve the dispute.

Some disputes, such as disagreements over fees, may be resolvable through mediation.

From there, the roads get steep.

The state bar wants to know about bad lawyering, Murdock said. "It's important for the purification of the bar and as a deterrent to other lawyers."

But the bar is not an appellate court. Generally, it can't help someone recover the damages of a mishandled or neglected case.

That leaves a legal malpractice suit as a last resort, but the time and money needed to make such a case raise hurdles most consumers can't clear.

Outside of large corporate law cases, the recoverable damages usually aren't large enough for a law firm to take on the case of one individual who believes his attorney's alleged malpractice blew his lawsuit, Tulsa attorney Darlene Crutchfield said.

Finding a lawyer who is willing to sue another lawyer also can be a chore, but people do go to the Tulsa County Bar Association for help, and the $20 referral service does pass on names of lawyers who will consider such cases.

Many times, Tulsa attorney Richard Borg said, people think they are turned away because lawyers won't sue lawyers when the truth is they don't have a strong enough case.

"Almost all of the time, you have a disgruntled client who lost a case," Borg said. An attorney may have made a mistake, an error in judgment, "but that is not a basis for a tort."

Malpractice cases are hard to make, said Turner of HALT. The unhappy client not only has to prove neglect or misconduct but also must prove that he would have won the original case if not for the alleged malpractice of his attorney.

"The sad truth is that none of the options is very good," Turner said. "But that doesn't mean you don't fight. It's a way of holding lawyers accountable."