Occasionally, I get a call from a lawyer stating that an opponent has threatened, either explicitly or implicitly, that if a matter involving a claim against an attorney is not resolved quickly, the client may feel it necessary to file a criminal or grievance complaint.
Connecticut is one of a few states that carried over from the old code of professional conduct the prohibition on threatening criminal charges “solely” to obtain advantage in a civil matter. This has caused some lawyers to get into ethics trouble when they do just that, not having learned in law school that not every state has adopted the same version of the model rules they learned in school. With regard to criminal charges, Rule 3.4(7) is pretty clear. But what about threatening a grievance or an administrative complaint, say to the Department of Consumer Protection, the Securities and Exchange Commission or some other licensing authority?
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