The Post's article reports that Office of Attorney Regulation head John Gleason is "incensed" by the findings of HALT's 2002 Lawyer Discipline Report Card, which gave Colorado an overall grade of "C."

Such knee-jerk public defensiveness misses the point. HALT's report card found problems with Colorado's lawyer discipline system, not with Mr. Gleason and his hard-working staff.

In fact, only a handful of states received a higher overall grade than Colorado, and HALT rated the state's staff and telephone services as among the best in the country.

The failure of the attorney discipline system to protect consumers is a nationwide problem that has been roundly criticized for more than 30 years by everyone from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark to blue-ribbon committees of the American Bar Association.

There is a continuing pattern of laxity, secrecy and delay, which is why no state received an "A" and only one state received a "B" in HALT's report card.

Every state, including Colorado, fell short in one or more areas. According to ABA statistics, Colorado investigates only one in 10 complaints against attorneys, unlike other states, where every complaint is investigated.

Colorado also does not process complaints promptly - it takes more than 300 days to file formal charges against an attorney and another 200 days to impose discipline - numbers well above the national average. With staff working "up to 12 hours a day," these shortcomings should come as no surprise to the Office of Attorney Regulation.

These are real problems, which will not be corrected by state officials stomping their feet like disappointed third-graders and demanding a higher grade.

Rather than defending a broken system, responsible lawyers, such as Mr. Gleason, should publicly recognize these problems and join in our efforts to secure meaningful reforms.