News Releases

State Bar General Counsel Vanessa Holton Announces Her Retirement

Vanessa Holton, the General Counsel for the State Bar of California, has announced her retirement after nearly seven years with the State Bar and a stellar legal career that has spanned almost four decades.  

“Vanessa Holton has displayed outstanding leadership during her time as General Counsel for the State Bar,” said Ruben Duran, Chair of the State Bar’s Board of Trustees. “She helped the State Bar transition from a bar association to a solely regulatory agency, with the General Counsel as an independent office. She has maintained that independence with resolve and integrity, and her acumen has benefited the State Bar, the attorneys and bar applicants it oversees, and the public she has so dutifully served her entire career.”   

Holton was hired in 2015. Her retirement is expected to be effective in July 2022.  

As General Counsel, Holton’s accomplishments include leading the Office of General Counsel (OGC) into a more autonomous role, with considerable authority, and transforming OGC into a full-service legal unit, greatly reducing reliance on outside counsel. During her tenure, the office litigated impact cases of significance to the missions of the State Bar and strengthened and professionalized the program that refers discipline cases that represent potential conflicts for State Bar staff to independent, special-deputy trial counsel. Through her leadership, the office also took on the attorney discipline complaint review function—where complainants can request a second look after the Office of Chief Trial Counsel closes their complaints —and oversaw rule changes to strengthen the State Bar's efforts to pursue uncollected debts. 

“It has been a privilege to serve as General Counsel during a period of immense positive change at the State Bar,” said Vanessa Holton. “I am grateful to have had the opportunity to cap off a long legal career at an organization with such important missions, interesting legal work, and a truly dedicated and impressive legal staff and clients.”

Prior to joining the State Bar, Holton worked for 27 years, most of them as a managing attorney, at the California Department of Industrial Relations. She also worked for five years as an attorney handling collective bargaining and arbitration matters for the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO. Other career highlights include consulting work for the California Bar Exam and Legal Specialization Unit and for the National Conference of Bar Examiners.  

Holton is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law. 

The State Bar Board of Trustees is expected to hire an executive search firm soon to conduct a nationwide search for the next General Counsel.  

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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.