Report 2022-030 Recommendation 7 Responses

Report 2022-030: The State Bar of California's Attorney Discipline Process: Weak Policies Limit Its Ability to Protect the Public From Attorney Misconduct (Release Date: April 2022)

Recommendation #7 To: Bar of California, State

To allow its staff to more easily identify patterns of similar complaints made against attorneys, by July 2022, the State Bar should begin using its general complaint type categorizations when determining whether to investigate a complaint.

1-Year Agency Response

In November 2022, MAAD completed its design and put into production an interactive dashboard based on data drawn from OCTC's case management system that allows OCTC attorneys to search by attorney name or bar number to identify all pending open and prior closed complaints for that attorney (exempting closed complaints that, in accordance with State Bar policy, have been archived to address concerns about racial disparities in the discipline system). The dashboard provides a graph showing the breakdown of current and prior cases grouped by general category and allows access to more specific information for each complaint within any category. On November 16, 2022, at an OCTC all-staff meeting, Assistant Chief Trial Counsel William Todd provided a demonstration on how to use the dashboard. On December 1, 2022, OCTC circulated to all staff an email with a link to access instructions for using the dashboard and the dashboard itself.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

The State Bar provided instructions describing for its staff how to use the dashboard it has created and a screenshot of the dashboard for an example attorney. The instructions describe categories for allegations and the screenshot shows the aggregate number of allegations in each of these categories for the example attorney. Based on this evidence, we consider the recommendation to be fully implemented.

6-Month Agency Response

The State Bar's Office of Research and Institutional Accountability has designed an interactive dashboard based on data drawn from OCTC's case management system that allows OCTC attorneys to search by attorney name or bar number to identify all pending open and prior closed complaints for that attorney (exempting closed complaints that, in accordance with State Bar policy, have been archived to address concerns about racial disparities in the discipline system). The dashboard provides a graph showing the breakdown of current and prior cases grouped by general category and allows access to more specific information for each complaint within any particular category. See supporting document - "Prior Complaint Patterns DRAFT". It contains redacted confidential disciplinary investigation information that is confidential, pursuant to Business & Professions Code section 6086.1(b)). The dashboard has been designed and tested. Methodology and instructions for staff use are being drafted. Once these are complete, training will be provided to OCTC staff, and the dashboard will be implemented to enable OCTC investigators and attorneys to ascertain whether a current complaint implicates an attorney with a pattern of prior complaints in any of the general complaint type categories.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

The State Bar's draft dashboard appears to provide comprehensive information that addresses the finding that prompted our recommendation. We look forward to reviewing the final version upon its implementation.

60-Day Agency Response

The State Bar's Office of Research and Institutional Accountability is designing an operational report based on data drawn from OCTC's case management system that will identify open cases that are based on the same complaint type as previously closed complaints using the newly created complaint categories. This report will be sortable by attorney. Once the report is designed and tested, it will be generated on a regular basis and made available to OCTC investigators and attorneys so that they can ascertain whether a current complaint implicates an attorney who has a pattern of prior complaints in any of the general complaint type categories.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

The State Bar's response does not provide sufficient detail to determine whether the information will be provided on a timely basis. We look forward to reviewing the report and the State Bar's policies and procedures related to creating and providing the report to its staff.

All Recommendations in 2022-030

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.