News Releases

New Board Chair, Vice-Chair Sworn In; Board Reviews Progress on California Justice Gap Study and Other Key Initiatives

Today Associate Justice Joshua P. Groban of the California Supreme Court swore in Alan Steinbrecher as Chair of the State Bar Board of Trustees and Sean SeLegue as Vice-Chair at the Board’s annual transition meeting.

Steinbrecher will lead the agency into 2020, continuing reforms for greater accountability, transparency, and effectiveness in fulfilling its mission of protecting the public, furthering access to legal services, and promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

“Access to justice has been a problem in California for a long time,” said incoming Board Chair Alan Steinbrecher. “It’s a nationwide and international problem. California has always been a leader on this issue, and we will continue to work on this challenge. Our newest research indicates that over 20 million Californians—at all income levels—lack access to legal services. It’s important that we are proactive and ensure that we are working to meet the enormous need.”

The Board received progress reports on key State Bar strategic objectives and initiatives.

California Justice Gap Study

Preliminary findings of a survey of nearly 4,000 Californians, one of the main elements of the California Justice Gap Study, were presented at today’s meeting. The findings spotlight the significant gap between the need for civil legal services and Californians’ ability to access legal help. The survey indicates that:

• 55 percent of Californians at all income levels experienced at least one civil legal issue in their household within the past year, yet nearly 70 percent of them received no legal assistance.
• These problems tend to cluster: On average, low-income Californians had over four civil legal problems per household, while those at higher incomes, on average, had slightly over two.
• Fewer than 1 in 3 Californians sought legal assistance to address their problems.
• Even when experiencing problems that have a significant impact on them, most do not receive legal help: 27 percent of low-income Californians received some legal help, while 34 percent of middle-income individuals did.
• Legal aid is a partial solution: Californians will seek legal aid for approximately 500,000 civil legal problems this year, and just over half will receive some help, but only 27 percent will be fully served by legal aid.*
• The most common categories of civil legal issues affect Californians at all income levels: health, finance, and employment.
• Other issues include rental housing, wills and estates, family issues (particularly children and custody), education issues, problems accessing disability and veterans’ benefits.

The overall study, due by the end of the year, will include the survey, intake census of legal aid providers, and results of a survey of law students, under way now, that will explore the impact of student loan debt on career choices.

Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services (ATILS)

The ATILS Task Force is exploring regulatory changes that could help close California’s justice gap. In late July, the ATILS Task Force invited public comment on 16 regulatory reform options proposed to enable innovation in the delivery of legal services.

The public comment period, which closes Monday, September 23, to date has generated over 1,000 comments. The Board is expected to begin review of ATILS recommendations early in 2020.

California Attorney Practice Analysis (CAPA)

The Board heard progress on CAPA, another important State Bar initiative, aimed at informing future efforts to re-examine the California Bar Exam’s content, format, and cut score. The CAPA study gathered data on the knowledge and skills of attorneys through a traditional survey and experience sampling. Approximately 16,000 attorneys participated in CAPA this summer. The data is still being analyzed, with a final report due at the end of the year.

Other actions taken by the Board of Trustees at this meeting included approval of the agreement whereby the California Commission on Access to Justice will become an independent entity, effective October 1, 2019. This action caps a multiyear effort by the State Bar to review, restructure, and right-size its governance committees, commissions, and task forces, following recommendations of the 2017 Governance in the Public Interest Task Force.

* Note (09/23/19): These numbers were corrected after the news was published. Legal aid is a partial solution: Californians will seek legal aid for approximately 450,000 civil legal problems this year, and just over half will receive some help, but only 30 percent will be fully served by legal aid.

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The State Bar of California's mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.