California State Bar Failed to Protect Public from Bad Lawyers: Audit

Between 2009 and 2014, The State Bar of California failed to protect residents from bad lawyers, the audit found.

The state agency charged with regulating California lawyers put the public at risk by rushing to eliminate a growing pile of misconduct cases, a new audit found.

Between 2009 and 2014, The State Bar of California failed to protect residents from bad lawyers by letting lawyers off with punishment less severe than they should have received, State Auditor Elaine Howle concluded in her June 2015 report.

The California State Bar regulates approximately 250,000 licensed lawyers.

In 2010 and 2011, the agency worked to minimize the more than 5,000 backlogged cases it had. That number shrunk by 66 percent by the end of that year, but the audit called the discipline “inadequate.” 

The Supreme Court of California sent 27 resolved cases in 2011 back to the Bar to reexamine, according to the audit. When the Bar looked at those cases again, 21 of the 27 cases ended up with harsher punishment, including five disbarments.

In moving to reduce the backlog, the bar “allowed attorneys whom it might have disciplined more severely – or even disbarred – to continue practicing law,” according to the audit.

In the report Howle criticized the organization for frivolous spending, saying it spent $76.6 million to buy a new Los Angeles building instead of using the funds to help alleviate the backlog of pending cases. Additionally, in a presentation to the Legislature, the audit said, the State Bar underestimated how much it would cost to fund the structure by more than $50 million.

In 2010 and 2011, the Bar settled 1,569 cases with 1,258 attorneys, according to the audit. After people filed new complaints following the settlements, 131 of those 1,258 attorneys were disciplined and 28 were disbarred.

“The chief trial counsel agreed that the State Bar’s volume and speed in processing the backlog in 2011 negatively affected the quality of its case settlements,” according to the audit.

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