Archived: Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System

This commission completed its work and submitted its final report to the State Bar Board of Trustees in January 2023.

Purpose

Over the last several years, the State Bar has implemented dozens of initiatives, policies, and procedures to improve access to and efficiency and effectiveness of the attorney discipline system and to enhance protection of the public. The Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) has taken steps to focus resources on protecting the most vulnerable victims. As the prosecuting arm of the discipline system, OCTC bears special responsibility for identifying attorney misconduct and fraud by those who hold themselves out to be attorneys and prey on those seeking justice. In addition to the State Bar’s work to improve organizational capacity and effectiveness, the Board of Trustees has taken a proactive approach to identify disproportionate discipline and has directed staff to develop, implement, and evaluate several reforms that address findings related to the disproportionate discipline imposed in particular on Black male attorneys. Another key component of the attorney discipline system is the State Bar Court, the only professional court of its kind in the nation. The State Bar Court has also implemented changes to improve access, effectiveness, and efficiency.
Read More

Given these myriad efforts, the Board determined that the attorney discipline system could benefit from a comprehensive examination of its policies and procedures. This review will examine and evaluate completed efforts as well as work currently in progress. The review will build upon existing initiatives and integrate them into a coherent whole to develop additional insight into ways the discipline system could be further improved. To ensure a keen focus on the State Bar’s public protection mission, the review will evaluate fairness and equity in an ongoing effort to understand and address disparities that may exist based on race or gender.

Charter

The Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System will take inventory of the changes that have been proposed and implemented in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel since 2016 and evaluate their impact on public protection. The evaluation will focus on the impact of these reforms on a number of key aspects of the discipline system, including:

Procedural justice and the experiences and perceptions of the system by complaining witnesses and respondents;
Workload and operational efficiency of case processing;
Case prioritization and differentiated case-flow management; and
The efficacy of the system for preventing future attorney misconduct.

In particular, this commission will:

Review the full catalog of reforms OCTC has implemented and identify one or more sets of processes, policies, and procedures to focus on;
Evaluate if these processes, policies, and procedures had their intended effect; and
Based on this evaluation, recommend additional or revised reforms.

Composition

The commission consists of 26 members appointed by the Board of Trustees. Members represent key institutional entities that focus on public protection and reflect the state’s diversity, both demographic and geographic.

Timeline

The commission held its first meeting on April 30, 2021. The group is scheduled to make a final report to the Board of Trustees on its findings and recommendations no later than June 30, 2022, with periodic status updates to be provided to the Board of Trustees.

Additional information

Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System Fact Sheet