News Releases

Board of Trustees Approves Record Expungement Plan for Nondisbarment Attorney Discipline

At its meeting on May 16, the State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees approved a plan to automatically expunge nondisbarment attorney discipline records after eight years, assuming no further discipline has since occurred. The change originates from recommendations of the State Bar’ Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System, which identified needed fairness and effectiveness reforms. 

Previously, the only path for attorneys to have past discipline records expunged was by petitioning the California Supreme Court. Expungement of discipline history other than disbarment was viewed by the commission as a means of redressing historical racial disparities in discipline and aligning the State Bar with California’s current criminal justice trends and the practices of other regulatory agencies. 

In its deliberations, the Board of Trustees considered data on attorney misconduct recidivism and compared practices in other jurisdictions and among regulators of other professions. The recidivism data found that repeated misconduct requiring discipline occurs most often within the first few years after an attorney’s first discipline. 

The new expungement policy is expected to affect thousands of attorneys when first implemented and more going forward. Current data indicates that Black attorneys will benefit in particular, addressing in part the racial disparities in the discipline system found in the 2019 Farkas report, which the State Bar plans to revisit later this year. This impact aligns with the Ad Hoc Commission’s intent and the State Bar’s policy goals. This measure will require rule and statute changes, which will return to the Board for later approval and will then go to the Supreme Court and the Legislature, respectively, for their approval. 

“With thoughtful discussion, this Board arrived at a resolution of a complex, longstanding issue that the Ad Hoc Commission tackled with great dedication, balancing the State Bar’s commitment to public protection with considerations of fairness and equity for attorneys who have fulfilled requirements for redressing isolated misconduct,” said Board Chair Brandon Stallings. 

Among other actions at its May meeting, the Board:

• Discussed the State Bar’s need for a 2025 licensing fee increase and the current status of the fee bill and approved continuing to advocate for the full $125 increase outlined by the State Bar in its April 1 reports to the Legislature. The Board also approved pursuing statutory changes that would enable it to use a portion of Client Security Fund (CSF) reserves in 2025 to support critical information technology modernization efforts that would improve efficiency and responsiveness to the public and attorneys. The CSF reserves currently total $9.3 million, and the State Bar has identified $5.1 million in critical IT needs unsupported in the current fee bill. 
• Approved a new policy for how law school name changes will be reflected on attorney profile webpages: Unless retroactive application is required explicitly by statute or by order of the California Supreme Court, law school name changes will apply prospectively—on profiles of licensees who graduate after the effective date of the school’s name change.

An agenda item concerned with engaging a new vendor for bar exam question development was withdrawn at the meeting’s start and is expected to return to the Board at a later date.

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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.