A national legal watchdog organization recently rated the Bay State's lawyer disciplinary system the best in the nation, but said the agency in charge must accelerate the speed of resolving cases.

Washington, D.C.-based Halt Inc., which calls itself the Organization of Americans for Legal Reform, awarded the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers and Office of the Bar Counsel an overall grade of Bminus, the highest grade it issued this year.

The 50,000-member national legal-reform group weighs factors like the adequacy and fairness of the discipline imposed against misbehaving attorneys, openness of the process and public participation. In addition to being responsive and fair, the Bay State's board can be proud of its record of investigating every complaint, but said investigations are often drawn out, said Halt associate counsel Susan Mishkin.

Delays often occur because the board will wait until a criminal or civil action against a lawyer is completed before launching its investigation, said Joe Vrabel, president of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

"If a criminal proceeding is in progress, it's a built-in delay," Vrabel said. "For civil actions, even though it's not a requirement, they wait until it's over. You don't want someone to use a board (investigation) as leverage in a civil action."

Funded by annual dues from the state's 45,700 active attorneys, the board reports to the state's Supreme Judicial Court. Bar counsel Daniel Crane said the organization logs 6,000 consumer complaints per year, and 25 percent of the time, cases are closed or lawyers disciplined within 60 days. He said 68 percent of cases are complete within one year. Longer cases often involve uncooperative attorneys who withhold documents or try to mislead the board, Crane said, extending investigations.

Boston Bar Association president Joe Kociubes noted that while a professional staff investigates, volunteer board members hear cases, possibly causing some delays. But the board takes each complaint seriously, he said. "It's a good deliberative body, where appropriate they have professional hearings."