1. What Are the Different Levels of Discipline that the State Bar Court Imposes on Attorneys?
   
2. What Kinds of Violations Typically Result in Disbarment and Other Levels of Discipline?
   
3. How Does the State Bar Handle Consumer Complaints?
   
4. When Can the State Bar Reveal that Someone Has Lodged A Complaint Against A Particular Attorney?
   
5. After a Complaint Has Been Lodged, How Long Does It Take for Disciplinary Charges to Be Filed in State Bar Court?
   
6. What Happens to An Attorney after Charges Are Filed against Him or Her in State Bar Court?
   
7. What Does the State Bar Do When a California Attorney Is Convicted of a Crime?
   
8. What Is the Client Security Fund and How Does It Work?
   

1. What Are the Different Levels of Discipline that the State Bar Court Imposes on Attorneys?

Answer: Disciplinary action for violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct or the State Bar Act ranges from private reproval to disbarment.

The California Supreme Court must approve any State Bar Court recommendation that suspends or disbars an attorney. The Supreme Court also may "stay" all or part of a suspension and may impose probationary conditions.

The Probation Unit of the Office of Chief Trial Counsel monitors attorneys' compliance with the conditions imposed on suspensions and reprovals.

Although not "discipline," the State Bar Court also may put attorneys on involuntary inactive status if they appear to pose a serious threat to the public.

If a State Bar investigation indicates that an attorney's conduct only bordered on a violation or was a minor breach, Bar prosecutors may choose an alternative to discipline.

They could decide to send a Directional or Warning Letter to the attorney - and close the case. Or they could issue an Admonition informing the attorney that no further action will take place as long as he or she stays out of trouble for two years. Or they could settle on an Agreement in Lieu of Discipline that requires the attorney to fulfill specially tailored remedial conditions.

2. What Kinds of Violations Typically Result in Disbarment and Other Levels of Discipline?

Answer: Each case is different. But most disbarred attorneys fall into one of two categories:

• they committed a very serious violation, such as perjury or stealing client funds, or;
• they have a history of misconduct.

Most disbarment cases involve more than one violation.

Reproval, either public or private, usually is reserved for first-time offenders whose misconduct falls on the low end of the scale.

For example, abandoning one client might lead to a private reproval or remedial action, such as Ethics School. Abandoning 12 clients, however, would likely result in much more serious discipline.

An attorney is placed on probation so that his or her conduct in the practice of law can be monitored - much like supervised probation in the criminal justice system.

Occasionally, another practicing attorney -- serving as a probation monitor -- meets with the disciplined attorney. The disciplined attorney then files regular reports and could be required to meet special conditions during the probationary period. Most conditions of probation are monitored by the Probation Unit.

3. How Does the State Bar Handle Consumer Complaints?

Answer: Consumers file complaints in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel's Intake Unit. They usually call the Intake Unit's toll-free hotline, 1-800-843-9053, or mail a letter (The State Bar of California, 1149 S. Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90015).

In almost all cases, consumers are asked to send in a complaint form. An inquiry is opened for every written communication that involves a complaint about an attorney's conduct. After the inquiry is evaluated, the accused attorney may be diverted out of the system, or the inquiry may be closed.

If it appears, however, that the attorney may be a repeat offender or has committed a violation where there is a serious likelihood of discipline being imposed, an investigator and a Bar prosecutor from the Enforcement Unit take over the investigation.

The accused attorney is given an opportunity to respond, witnesses are contacted and documents are reviewed. At the investigation's conclusion, attorneys decide whether to:

• dismiss the complaint
• impose an informal confidential resolution, or
• file disciplinary charges.

The Notice of Disciplinary Charges is filed in State Bar Court, where it is assigned to a hearing judge. The accused attorney then must file an answer - or risk a default judgment or involuntary enrollment as an inactive bar member.

If a settlement cannot be reached, the case goes to trial in State Bar Court. After the trial, the hearing judge issues a written decision. Either side may appeal the decision to the State Bar Court's Review Department.

The California Supreme Court is the final arbiter in attorney discipline cases.

4. When Can the State Bar Reveal that Someone Has Lodged A Complaint Against A Particular Attorney?

Answer: State Bar investigations and inquiries are, by statute, confidential. The complaint becomes public when disciplinary charges are filed against an attorney in State Bar Court. By law, however, any other pending investigations involving the same lawyer must remain confidential at that point. If it is determined that public protection is seriously at stake in a particular case, the Chief Trial Counsel does have the authority to publicly reveal a pending investigation.

5. After a Complaint Has Been Lodged, How Long Does It Take for Disciplinary Charges to Be Filed in State Bar Court?

Answer: Many complaints typically take up to six months to complete an investigation. In particularly complex cases, the investigation could take as long as a year. Many complaints are diverted out of the process along the way with, for example, a referral to mandatory mediation, an agreement requiring the attorney to meet certain conditions, or the attorney's participation in other programs.

6. What Happens to An Attorney after Charges Are Filed against Him or Her in State Bar Court?

Answer: The accused attorney must file an answer, or risk a default judgment and involuntary enrollment as an inactive Bar member pending the outcome of the case. The clerks in State Bar Court schedule a status conference (a meeting of all parties), to be held within 45 days. The next step depends on the individual case. There could be additional status conferences, settlement conferences, or simply the trial date.

7. What Does the State Bar Do When a California Attorney Is Convicted of a Crime?

Answer: The convicted attorney, the district attorney and the court are all required, by law, to notify the Bar any time that an attorney is arrested and charged with a crime or criminally convicted. The overlapping requirements help assure that the bar will be notified. When the Bar receives such a report, the information is forwarded to the State Bar Court. Then it is handled in several different ways, depending upon the nature of the conviction.

If the attorney is convicted of a felony, he or she is placed on interim suspension pending a disciplinary hearing on the merits in State Bar Court. Attorneys convicted of a misdemeanor also are put on interim suspension if the crime involved "moral turpitude" by its very nature. Some crimes, such as theft, are designated by law as crimes involving moral turpitude.

But if the attorney's misdemeanor conviction does not by its very nature involve moral turpitude, he or she faces a hearing in State Bar Court to determine the discipline, if any, to be imposed in the case.

8. What Is the Client Security Fund and How Does It Work?

Answer: The Client Security Fund, established in 1972, represents one of the State Bar's major efforts to achieve its public protection goals. The Fund reimburses clients who have lost money or property due to theft or an equivalent dishonest act committed by a California lawyer acting in a professional capacity. Supported entirely by lawyers' annual dues, the Fund reimburses eligible applicants up to $50,000. The Fund has reimbursed more than $20,000,000 since January 1995. See the State Bar pamphlet "Can The Client Security Fund Help You?"