When the Iowa Supreme Court reviews the state's lawyer-discipline system ("Stronger Discipline Planned for County Attorneys," Sept. 25), the protection of Iowans - not the continued shield of lawyer misconduct - should be its primary focus. As reported by the Register, the court's decision to reassess its system for disciplining unethical lawyers was prompted by evidence that a special disciplinary body for county attorneys has been too lenient.

The court would act in the best of interests of Iowa's legal consumers to regulate county attorneys in the same manner as the rest of the state's attorneys. This would help eliminate the self-regulation and bias inherent in the current system, which allows county attorneys to police each other.

The court must also take this opportunity to analyze the state's overall lawyer-discipline system. The court's recent announcement was spurred by the alarming fact that none of the 48 complaints filed against the state's county attorneys last year resulted in formal discipline. However, the statewide discipline system's track record is not much better.

According to the American Bar Association's most recent statistics, 545 complaints about unethical attorneys were filed in Iowa in 2002, but only 29 of these complaints resulted in formal sanctions. It is clear that the problem of leniency is plaguing the state's entire discipline system, not just the body that regulates county attorneys.

The current structure is failing to hold unscrupulous attorneys accountable and to protect Iowa's millions of legal consumers. The Iowa Supreme Court should seize on this opportunity to repair this badly broken system.

Suzanne M. Mishkin,
Associate Counsel
Kristin M. Weber,
Program Staff
HALT—An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform
Washington, D.C.