State Bar of California
The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California.[2] It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate discipline, accepting attorney-member fees, and financially distributing sums paid through attorney trust accounts to fund nonprofit legal entities. It is directly responsible to the Supreme Court of California; however, its trustees are now appointed by the Supreme Court, the California Legislature, and Governor of California.[3] All attorney admissions are issued as recommendations of the State Bar, which are then routinely ratified by the Supreme Court.[4] Attorney discipline is handled by the State Bar Office of Chief Trial Counsel, which acts as prosecutor before the State Bar Court of California.[5] The State Bar has been cited for its corrupt practices during the 21st century, and is subject to reforms issued by its governing body, the California Supreme Court.[6][7]
Formation
The State Bar was legally established on July 29, 1927, when the State Bar Act went into effect.[8]: xiii–xix The State Bar of California is the largest in the United States, with over 286,000 living members as of December 2022, of whom nearly 197,000 are on active status.[1] It is headquartered in San Francisco, with a branch office in Los Angeles.
At its inception, the State Bar was a "unified" bar in which disciplinary functions and more traditional "bar association" functions were joined into one entity. In 2018–2019, the State Bar was split into two entities: the State Bar of California became a standalone Government entity with legal enforcement via the State Bar Court.[9][10]
The new entity split off from the State Bar of California became the California Lawyers Association (CLA) and took over certain functions such as education, lobbying, and annual meetings. Membership in the CLA is voluntary. Membership in the State Bar of California is mandatory for most practicing lawyers in California (the only exceptions being for very specific instances). The CLA is an NGO (Non-governmental organization).[11]
Membership[edit]
Fee structure[edit]
The State Bar of California is one of a small number of State Bars whose member fee structure must be ratified annually by both the legislature and the governor. Without such annual reauthorization, it can charge California lawyers only $77 per year.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Keller v. State Bar of California that attorneys who are required to be members of a state bar association have a First Amendment right to refrain from subsidizing the organization's political or ideological activities as was the case with the California State Bar's activities.[19]
In October 1997, Governor Pete Wilson vetoed the fee authorization bill for that year. He pointed out that California's bar had the highest annual fee in the country at $478. He also stated that the State Bar had become bloated and inefficient and criticized its Conference of Delegates for taking positions on divisive political issues like abortion.[20] The State Bar's political and lobbying activities, combined with the compulsory nature of its dues, had already resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the State Bar was forced to allow attorneys to opt out of paying dues to support positions that they found abhorrent, Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990).
As a result, the State Bar was forced to lay off 500 of its 700 personnel on June 26, 1998.[21] For six months, the State Bar's attorney disciplinary system was nonfunctional. On December 3, 1998, the Supreme Court of California unanimously held that it had the power to impose an emergency annual fee of $171.44 on all California lawyers to fund the attorney disciplinary system. See In re Attorney Disciplinary System, 19 Cal. 4th 582 (1998). By then, the backlog of unprocessed complaints had soared to 6,000.
On September 7, 1999, Governor Gray Davis signed a bill that set the annual fee for the State Bar at $395, thus ending the funding crisis. Since then, the State Bar has undertaken several reforms to improve the efficiency of its operations. In 2002, the State Bar split off the Conference of Delegates into a separate volunteer organization, now known as the Conference of California Bar Associations.[22]
On October 11, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the fee authorization bill for 2010.[23] In his veto message accompanying the return of the unsigned bill to the Legislature, he stated that just as in 1997, the State Bar had again become inefficient, scandal-ridden, and excessively politicized.
In 2015 and 2016, the California State Auditor's Office found that the State Bar was inefficient and had failed to properly engage with stakeholders.[24] The State Auditor's Office also determined that the State Bar's financial reporting lacked transparency and had obscured a growing shortfall in its Client Security Fund, masking a high volume of claims that the State Bar expected the fund would be required to pay.[24] Audits also found that the State Bar had created an unnecessary nonprofit organization and then used State Bar funds to cover the nonprofit's financial losses.[24]
Another punitive lapse occurred in 2016, when the State Legislature allowed its session to end without enacting a bill authorizing the bar to collect lawyer fees in 2017.[25]
In 2018, however, the State Bar "split" into two entities, with a newly appointee-only board of trustees. In late 2019, the State Legislature approved the first licensing fee increase for the State Bar in over 20 years. Annual licensing fees for active attorneys now total $510.00.[26]
Admissions criteria[edit]
The task of deciding whom to admit to the bar is performed by the Committee of Bar Examiners and the Office of Admissions under procedures set out in the State Bar Act.
Prior to law schools in the U.S., the only way to become an attorney was to "read" for the law. Usually this was done by reading Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England as a textbook, and by interning for a judge or a lawyer for a prescribed period. The Bar candidate would then be questioned by a panel of court justices and accepted or rejected as an officer of the court. If accepted, the candidate was sworn into the Bar.
California requires two years of pre-legal education before beginning the study of law.[27] Once the pre-legal education is met, California has different paths to become a licensed attorney:[28]
Licensee services[edit]
As a regulatory agency whose mission is now focused on public protection, the State Bar's services are focused on those necessary to meet its mission. The State Bar maintains licensee records and a searchable database of attorney profiles for the public on its website.[65] To collect licensing fees that fund its operations, the State Bar sends out annual fee statements and collects fees.
Under the supervision of the Board of Legal Specialization, the State Bar officially certifies legal specialists in 11 different practice areas.[66] It was first announced in February 1971 as the first such program anywhere in the United States. It began actual operations in 1973 with three practice areas initially available: workers' compensation, criminal law, and tax law.
The Minimum Continuing Legal Education Program, launched in 1990, certifies continuing legal education providers and enforces the MCLE requirement (currently 25 hours every three years) through random audits.
The Lawyer Assistance Program, created in 2002, assists lawyers with mental health and substance abuse problems.[67]
The Mandatory Fee Arbitration Program, created in 1978, resolves attorney-client disputes over attorney fees. It is voluntary for clients but mandatory for attorneys if the client demands it.[68]
With the split of professional association functions in 2018, member services were spun off. For example, an independent organization, CalBar Affinity, now maintains CalBar Connect, a website offering discounted products and services to California attorneys.[69]
In November 2023, the State Bar of California became the first regulatory agency in the profession to pass disclosure and billing guidelines for member use of artificial intelligence (AI).[70]
In addition to disciplinary functions, the State Bar still operates several other non-disciplinary functions:
Controversies[edit]
Executive Director Joseph Dunn 2014 firing[edit]
On November 13, 2014, the State Bar issued a statement saying that former State Senator Joseph Dunn's employment as executive director had been terminated by the board of trustees.[75] The same day, Dunn filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the State Bar challenging the termination because he had exposed malfeasance and "egregious improprieties."[76][77][78] The State Bar denied Dunn's allegations, saying the "Board received a complaint from a high-level employee raising serious, wide-ranging allegations about ... Dunn and certain State Bar employees."[79][80] The lawsuit was eventually diverted into arbitration, and in March 2017, the arbitrator rejected Dunn's claims and exonerated the State Bar for his firing.[81] In July 2022, the State Bar issued a Notice of Disciplinary Charges against Joe Dunn.[82] After dismissing most charges against him, in February 2023,[83] Judge Yvette D. Roland of the State Bar Court of California, in September 2023, denied Dunn's second motion to dismiss remaining charges, setting a trial commencement date of November 29, 2023.[84]
State Bar internal corruption[edit]
The Bar hired Los Angeles law firm Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg to conduct an internal investigation[85] in February 2023, which found that State Bar employees had accepted gifts, travel, meals, and other things of value from the Girardi & Keese law firm.[6] This influenced the State Bar to block and bury complaints against the law firm. The State Bar disclosed that, across four decades, during which it had received 205 complaints against Thomas Girardi, the Bar took no action against the attorney and dismissed the cases.[59][86]
In 2009, long-time member and Girardi & Keese partner Howard Miller had been elected, uncontested, as the State Bar's 85th president.[87][88] In 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that Miller had led the board of trustees to force out its director, recruiting another Girardi ally, Joe Dunn, to replace[89] Judy Johnson, its longest-serving executive director[90] following two terms as its chief trial counsel, overseeing attorney discipline in California.[91]