STATE BAR TO PURSUE LOS ANGELES REAL ESTATE PURCHASE

San Francisco, Sept. 11, 2012 – The State Bar Board of Trustees Operations Committee today authorized staff to pursue the purchase of a building at 845 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles. The purchase would allow the bar, which has leased office space in Los Angeles since 1986, to once again own all of its office space.

In 1986, an arson fire forced the bar to abandon its former office building at 1230 W. Third St., Los Angeles, which it had occupied since 1960. The bar has leased its current L.A. location, 1149 S. Hill St., since the early 1990s. The bar owns its San Francisco headquarters at 180 Howard St.

“I’m pleased that after a 26-year hiatus, the State Bar may be able to return to the fiscally responsible position of owning rather than leasing its office space in Los Angeles,” State Bar Board President Jon Streeter said. “Ownership is a far more prudent investment of the members’ dues.”

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The State Bar of California is an administrative arm of the California Supreme Court, serving the public and seeking to improve the justice system for more than 80 years. All lawyers practicing law in California must be members of the State Bar. By September 2012, membership reached 238,000.