California flag flies over Santa Monica, California City Hall REUTERS / Lucy Nicholson
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- Auditor’s latest report calls for greater oversight and clearer policies in advocacy cases
- Between 2010 and 2021, 5% of cases resulted in disciplinary action against lawyers
(Reuters) – California state attorney’s offices too often resolve allegations of illegal conduct by lawyers behind closed doors and do not consistently address conflicts of interest with lawyers under investigation, according to a new report by the state auditor.
“We have found that the U.S. Attorney’s Office ended some cases prematurely, requiring further investigation and potential discipline,” said a report released Thursday by California’s acting state auditor, Michael Tilden.
The report called on lawmakers in California and the state attorney’s office to step up monitoring and policies around attorneys’ discipline.
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This is the latest in a series of audits and reports that have raised red flags for the oversight of lawyers in the country, highlighting large backlogs in disciplinary cases and other issues. The state attorney’s office reorganized its system of lawyer discipline in 2016 after a scathing report by a state auditor who concluded that it had failed to protect the public from the lawyer’s misconduct. But the state auditor’s report for 2021 found that the reorganization has worsened the backlog of disciplinary cases.
Lawmakers ordered the final audit amid concerns about the handling of lawsuits by lawyers against prominent plaintiffs’ lawyer, Thomas Girardi. Girardi, who is now being investigated by the state attorney’s office, is accused by a rival law firm of using settlement funds intended for the families of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash to finance a lavish lifestyle.
Ruben Durand, chairman of the board of trustees of the state bar association, said in response to Thursday’s report that some of his findings were “deeply eye-catching and worrying”.
The report found that between 2010 and 2021, more than 64% of disciplinary cases were closed during admission. Only 7% progress to the hearing and discipline phase, and 5% of all cases lead to formal discipline. Many cases have been closed through non-public measures such as warning letters sent to the lawyer in question.
The State Bar Association’s recommendations include adopting new criteria for the confidential closure of cases, improving efforts to identify patterns of misconduct and publicity when California-licensed attorneys have been punished elsewhere.
The bar said on Thursday that it agreed with most of the recommendations, except that conducting randomized reviews of less customer confidence and closing bank accounts would take too much time and resources.
Read more:
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Karen Sloan
Karen Sloan reports on law firms, law schools and the legal business. Contact her at karen.sloan@thomsonreuters.com
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