The State Bar seeks public comment on proposed amendments to the State Bar Rules intended to implement recommendations from the Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System relating to Early Neutral Evaluation Conferences. Length of comment period: 45 days.
Deadline: January 18, 2024, 11:59 p.m.
Comments should be submitted using the online Public Comment Form. The online form allows you to input your comments directly and can also be used to upload your comment letter and/or other attachments.
Rule 5.30 of the State Bar Rules of Procedure currently requires, if requested by either the Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) or the respondent attorney, a prefiling Early Neutral Evaluation Conference (ENEC) conducted before a State Bar Court judge. In response to a recommendation from the Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System, the Board directed staff to work with stakeholders to propose revisions to the rule to promote the use of ENECs as a mechanism for arriving at settlements of State Bar disciplinary proceedings.
In response to another recommendation by the Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System, the Board directed staff to work with stakeholders to propose revisions to the rules governing criminal conviction matters, rules 5.340–5.347, to provide OCTC with the option of requesting a pre-transmittal conference in misdemeanor conviction matters where OCTC believes such a conference might affect its determination whether the misdemeanor conviction involves or may involve moral turpitude or other conduct warranting dismissal and so its decision whether to transmit.
Staff proposes amendments to rule 5.30 to promote the use of ENECs as a mechanism for arriving at settlements of State Bar disciplinary proceedings. Staff proposes amendments to rule 5.341 to implement optional prefiling meetings similar to an ENEC in misdemeanor conviction matters.
The full language of the proposed amendments can be found here.
The new procedures will require some additional work on the part of both OCTC and the State Bar Court in the preparation for and conduct of prefiling/pre-transmittal conferences. If the proposals succeed in resolving more cases prior to filing/transmittal, however, the overall reduction in post-filing/transmittal workload is expected to offset the increased prefiling/pre-transmittal workload.
Board of Trustees sitting as the Regulation and Discipline Committee
January 18, 2024, 11:59 p.m.