How do I file complain against attorney in this situation?

[Max Spider X]

Last month, my attorney in NY closed his firm and ran away with my $1500 deposit to LA. I was able to find his address and phone number at that office on his website. I gave him one call every week trying to get my money back, but he always gave me some lame excuses such as he hasn't had time to check my files and stuff.

Since the misconduct occured in NYS, and I was able to find his registration number here:

http://portal.courts.state.ny.us/pls/portal30/INTERNETDB_DEV.MENU_INTERNETDB.show

I can probably disbar him by filing a complaint with the Departmental Disciplinary Committee under the NYS Appellate Division. But problem is that he doesn't plan to do business in NY anymore, and I can't find a similar website of the State of California that contains a full attorney directory. Since he is located in CA now, I am affraid the NY Appellate Division won't even give a damn about my case; and since this occured in NY, I doubt the CA counterpart would have any jurisdiction to enforce the disciplinary process on him. What can I do now?

 

[hadron]

- file a complaint against him with the NY bar
- file a small-claims action against him for the money he owes you

If others he bilked out of money also complain to the bar, he might get investigated. Although the legal profession is notoriously lax against their own, there is a chance that NY would take action against his NY law license. And losing your license in one state will have a negative impact on your licenses in other states.