Report 2007-030 Recommendation 10 Responses

Report 2007-030: State Bar of California: With Strategic Planning Not Yet Completed, It Projects General Fund Deficits and Needs Continued Improvement in Program Administration (Release Date: April 2007)

Recommendation #10 To: Bar of California, State

To ensure that it receives all the trust account interest income available for its legal services program, the State Bar should consider conducting activities, such as interviewing or surveying a sample of members who do not report whether they have established trust accounts. This would allow the State Bar to determine whether some members are holding clients' funds without establishing trust accounts and remitting the interest to the State Bar. If the State Bar finds that the nonreporting members do, in fact, hold client funds that are nominal in amount or are held for a short period of time, it should seek the authority to enforce compliance reporting.

1-Year Agency Response

The State Bar stated it submitted to the Supreme Court for approval a proposal that would require each attorney to complete and maintain an online registration. If adopted by the Supreme Court, proposed Rule 9.8 requires lawyers to report whether the attorney or the attorney's law firm has established and maintained one or more trust fund accounts required under Business and Professions Code, Section 6211. According to the State Bar, in anticipation of the Supreme Court's action on this proposal and to facilitate online reporting once it becomes mandatory, the State Bar launched its online reporting feature in April 2008, which will remain voluntary pending the Supreme Court's approval of its proposed requirement. (See 2009-406, pp. 259-260)

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

All Recommendations in 2007-030

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.