Report 2015-030 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2015-030: State Bar of California: It Has Not Consistently Protected the Public Through Its Attorney Discipline Process and Lacks Accountability (Release Date: June 2015)

Recommendation #1 To: Bar of California, State

To ensure that its backlog does not adversely affect the quality of the discipline it imposes on attorneys who fail to fulfill their professional responsibilities, the State Bar should adhere to its quality control processes. Further, it should take steps to prevent its management or staff from circumventing those processes, such as requiring the presentation to the board of any proposed changes to quality control.

6-Month Agency Response

At its November 20, 2015, meeting, the Board of Trustees adopted a policy amending the charter of its Regulation and Discipline Committee (RAD) to specify that approval of RAD is required in order to implement any material changes to policy-level quality control measures in the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel, the Client Security Fund, or the Office of Probation. The meeting agenda and relevant item report are being submitted via email.

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

60-Day Agency Response

The State Bar will be presenting appropriate oversight policies for the Board of Trustees to adopt to implement this recommendation and to prevent a repetition of the situation identified in the report when prior Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) management eliminated OCTC's Audit and Review Unit in 2010 and its quality control processes were circumvented without the knowledge of the board or this committee.

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

All Recommendations in 2015-030

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.