How to Check a Lawyer's License and Record in Pennsylvania

Every lawyer licensed in Pennsylvania has a public record on the Disciplinary Board's website. The Board is the office of the state Supreme Court that registers and disciplines lawyers, and its record is where finding a good lawyer starts. Search the name, check the address, and look for the word Active under Current Status. Active means they may practice in Pennsylvania right now. A few limited licenses cover specific roles only (pro bono work through a legal aid organization, a company's own lawyer, a lawyer admitted in another state working for a legal aid or defender office, foreign law, and two military-related limited admissions). Any status other than Active or one of those limited licenses means they can't take your case. Firms' addresses, phones and reviews are on the county lawyers page.

Where to look a lawyer up, and how to read the record.

At padisciplinaryboard.org, under "Look Up an Attorney", you can search by name, ID number, city or county.

• Match the name to the person. Two lawyers can share a name, so check the Employer, Address and County lines against whatever you know: the firm, the office or the town. If all you have is a name, search by county and pick Berks.
• Read the Current Status line. The word you want is Active.
• Read Pending Proceedings and History. An empty record says "There is no history for this attorney." If there is any history, each disciplinary order is listed, and some link to the order itself.
• Read the Professional Liability Insurance line. It's the same thing as malpractice insurance; the lawyer fills this line in at registration, and the insurance section below explains the answers.

The record doesn't say what kind of law the lawyer practices. The Employer line names the firm, and the firm's own site or the first meeting tells you the rest; how to find a lawyer for your problem sorts problems by kind of lawyer. If the name doesn't come up at all, under any status, the person isn't licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania: check the spelling, then ask the firm who the lawyer on your matter is.

Which statuses mean the lawyer can take your case?

Active is the status that means the lawyer may practice right now, and the table puts the Board's own list in plain terms.

These are the Disciplinary Board's own status labels and what each one means, as of October 2026. A few other labels can appear on a record (Deceased, Bar Resignation, Admission Revoked, and a few judge, retired and license-expired variants); none of them is on the Board's list of statuses that may practice.

Status on the record	Can they take your case?	What the Board says it means
Active	Yes	A member of the Pennsylvania bar, current on all registration requirements and permitted to practice; registers every year.
Emeritus, In-House Corporate Counsel, Defender or Legal Services, Foreign Legal Consultant, Military Attorney, Attorney Spouse of Active-Duty Military	Only within a limited role	Limited licenses: pro bono work through a legal aid organization, a company's own lawyer, a lawyer admitted in another state working for a legal aid or defender office, foreign law, or two military-related limited admissions.
Administrative Suspension	No	Failed to pay the annual fee, satisfy continuing legal education requirements, or pay the costs charged to the lawyer in a disciplinary proceeding ("expenses taxed" in the Board's words). Notified in advance; prohibited from practicing.
Inactive, Retired, Judge, License Expired, Permanent Resignation	No	A status outside practice. Prohibited from practicing.
Suspended	No	Disciplined by Supreme Court Order. Prohibited for a period the Court sets.
Disbarred	No	Disciplined by Supreme Court Order and prohibited. May not apply for reinstatement for at least 5 years.
Disability Inactive	No	Declared incapacitated or severely mentally disabled by Supreme Court Order. Prohibited.

Administrative Suspension isn't a punishment: the lawyer lost the right to practice over missed paperwork, payments or continuing education, not through a disciplinary order of its own.

What a clean history does and doesn't tell you.

The record shows public discipline, the kind the public is entitled to know about: disbarment (which runs at least five years), suspension (up to and including five years), public censure, probation or a public reprimand. Private discipline, a private reprimand or an informal admonition, stays between the Board and the lawyer, so it never appears on the record.

The Board says its online history may not reach back before 2003, so "clean" on the site means no public discipline since about then; for anything earlier, ask the Board's Executive Office in Harrisburg.

What the malpractice insurance line means.

Malpractice insurance is the policy that pays when a lawyer's mistake costs a client money. Every Pennsylvania lawyer works under the Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 1.4(c) doesn't require the insurance; it requires a warning. A lawyer in private practice has to tell a new client in writing if they don't carry at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 a year of professional liability insurance.

The line on the record says one of three things. They carry it in those amounts. They don't carry it because they have no private clients. Or they don't carry it, have private clients, and know they must tell them in writing.

What a good lawyer does, according to the rules.

The red flags people ask about when hiring a lawyer are the rules read in reverse: a lawyer who doesn't explain, doesn't answer, doesn't keep you posted. The rules say a lawyer has to keep you reasonably informed about where your matter stands, answer reasonable requests for information promptly, and explain things well enough that you can make your own decisions. A lawyer also has to be competent and act with reasonable diligence and promptness.

In the reviews of Berks County law firms on our directory, the praise that comes up most often is for knowing the law, then for treating people with care, then for keeping in touch; price is praised least often.

Rule 1.5 says that when a lawyer has not regularly represented the client, which includes a new client, the basis or rate of the fee shall be communicated to the client, in writing, before or within a reasonable time after commencing the representation. That's the latest the rule allows; you can ask for it at the first meeting. Fees themselves are in what lawyers cost in Berks County.

Questions to ask a lawyer at the first meeting.

Each question below has a rule behind it.

• How do you charge, and will I get the basis of the fee in writing?
• If the fee is a share of what's recovered: what are the percentages for a settlement, a trial and an appeal, and do expenses come off before or after the percentage is taken? It has to be in writing with those terms.
• Where does money I pay up front go, and what comes back if we stop? A trust account, drawn only as fees are earned, unless you agree in writing to a different arrangement; whatever hasn't been earned is refunded if you stop.
• Do you carry malpractice insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 in the aggregate per year?
• Who does the day-to-day work on my file, and how will you keep me informed?
• Can we limit what you handle to the one piece I need? The rules allow a limited scope when it's reasonable and you give informed consent, meaning you agree to it knowing the risks and the alternatives.

This is general information about how the record and the rules work; a question about your own case goes to a lawyer, the Berks County Bar Association's referral service or MidPenn Legal Services, the free legal aid office (they're all listed in free and low-cost legal help in Berks County). Phones are on the county lawyers page.

Frequently asked questions about checking a Pennsylvania lawyer.

Is a lawyer the same thing as an attorney?

No Pennsylvania rule separates the two words: the conduct rules use "lawyer" almost everywhere and "attorney" here and there for the same person.

Where does a complaint about a lawyer go?

Complaints about a lawyer's conduct go to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the Board's prosecutors. You file through the online form, or a printed form mailed to the Board's district office for the area where the lawyer practices; the Board's site lists the offices and has the form in Spanish. Expect an acknowledgment with a file number, an investigation, and a letter with the outcome. Don't expect a referral to a new lawyer or any money back, and the Office doesn't represent you against the lawyer.

What if the dispute is about the bill, or about money the lawyer took?

Fee disputes aren't normally handled within the attorney disciplinary process. In Berks they go to the Bar's Legal Fee Dispute Resolution Committee, which covers the fees you have paid already or the amount claimed to be due by the attorney, with no filing or other fees. It's voluntary for both the client and the lawyer. If the two of you can't settle it with the committee's help, it can go to binding arbitration, a decision both sides agree in advance to accept, and only if both agree. A dispute that's already in court over the fee may not qualify, and the committee doesn't decide ethics or the quality of the work. The committee handles disputes with lawyers who belong to the Berks County Bar Association; ask the lawyer or the Bar whether they're a member.

Money a lawyer took improperly is a different matter: the Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security can repay clients for that, up to $150,000 per claimant, but not for a lawyer's mistakes or for fee disputes.

Can the Disciplinary Board recommend a lawyer to me?

The Board says it cannot refer you to a particular attorney and points you to the Pennsylvania Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service or your county bar association (for Berks, the county bar).

Tonight: search the name, match the record to the person, confirm Active, read the history and the insurance line, and bring the six questions. If you still need a name, the Bar's referral panel (610-375-4591, 544 Court Street, Reading) requires its attorneys to be licensed and actively engaged in the practice of law in Berks County, and in good standing with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Run the record on that name too.

Sources

• Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, "Look Up an Attorney": what the search covers, the pre-2003 history note and the $0.50-a-page copies.
• Disciplinary Board, "Status Definitions": every status in the table and which ones may practice; the search tool's status list: the extra labels the caption names.
• Disciplinary Board, "FAQs & Resources for the Public": what a record shows, the five public and two private kinds of discipline, fee disputes, referrals and the Client Security Fund.
• Disciplinary Board, "File a Complaint": the online and mailed complaint, what to expect and what not to expect, and where fee disputes go.
• 204 Pa. Code Chapter 81, Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct (current through 56 Pa.B. 5370, August 8, 2026): Rules 1.1, 1.2(c), 1.3, 1.4, 1.5(b) and (c), 1.15(i) and 1.16(d).
• 204 Pa. Code Chapter 83, Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement: Rule 219(c), the annual registration form's insurance question and the 30-day update.
• Berks County Bar Association, "Find a Lawyer": the referral panel's requirements, the phone and the address.
• Berks County Bar Association, "Legal Fee Dispute Resolution": what the committee handles, no fees, voluntary, binding arbitration only if both agree.
• Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security, "Frequently Asked Questions" and "What Type of Claim is Handled": theft only, no fee to file, the $150,000 cap, awards discretionary.
• BerksConnect directory, review themes on the active Berks County law firm listings (read October 7, 2026): what reviewers praise most often, used qualitatively.