HELENA -- The state's Office of Disciplinary Counsel -- the outfit that records and investigates complaints against lawyers -- reported a bumper crop of complaints in 2003.

The 18-month-old office tallied 320 complaints against lawyers last year, compared with a projected 266 the year before, an increase of 20 percent.

Timothy Strauch, state disciplinary counsel and head of the office, said he doesn't think Montana's lawyers are actually behaving any worse than a year ago. He attributes the rise in complaints to the higher profile his office gained recently and to efforts to make lodging complaints easier.

''We've tried to make it easier for complainants to find us," he said.

This year, the office is on schedule to total about as many complaints as in 2003.

The office opened in July 2002 after the Montana Supreme Court split the tasks of the state's Commission on Practice. Before 2002, the commission handled all aspects of complaints about attorneys.

Now, Strauch's office tallies, investigates and prosecutes complaints. The Commission on Practice decides if lawyers are in the wrong. The commission doesn't punish anyone, however. It makes recommendations to the Montana Supreme Court, which is in charge of disciplining lawyers.

Many complaints stem from clients unhappy with the results of a divorce or criminal proceeding, Strauch said. But dissatisfaction alone is not the stuff Strauch is necessarily looking for. The only complaints he pursues are those suggesting an attorney has violated the codes of professional conduct or suffers from sort of mental defect -- like alcoholism or a mental illness -- that renders an attorney unfit for the job.

''A lot of the dissatisfaction stuff doesn't rise to incompetence," he said. ''They might have a malpractice suit, but they don't necessarily have an ethical issue."

In theory, Strauch is also supposed to be notified any time a lawyer is convicted of any crime, even a misdemeanor. But in reality, he said, some petty convictions escape his notice. He investigates every conviction he hears about, although lawyers don't necessarily lose their license to practice law if they break the law.

Many complaints lead nowhere. For example, Strauch received complaints against approximately one in eight active lawyers in the state in 2003. Some were the subject of more than one complaint. But far fewer lawyers -- about one in 70 or less than 2 percent -- were sanctioned for wrongdoing.

Strauch did notice one unusual change in 2003: A growing number of lawyers filed complaints about other lawyers against whom they faced off in the courtroom. For example, a lawyer representing a husband in a divorce might file a complaint against the lawyer representing the wife while the case was still pending. Such cases made up only 7 percent of the complaints received in 2002, but 18 percent of all complaints filed in 2003.

Strauch said the trend might suggest a new -- and unwelcome -- ''litigation tactic."

''Sometimes it looks like they're trying to gain leverage," he said. ''I don't think that's fair."

If the trend continues, Strauch said he would look into changing some of the rules governing complaints.

Despite the jump, Strauch said Montana's rate of complaints against lawyers is ''in line with other states."

The office is funded by the Montana State Bar, the mandatory organization of Montana lawyers, but answers to the Montana Supreme Court.