On March 10, 2023, the State Bar released redacted versions of two reports detailing the past handling of complaints against now-disbarred attorney Thomas V. Girardi. The news release is here; the May report is here; the Lazar report is here.
This announcement follows the release in November 2022 of an open letter from Board of Trustees Chair Ruben Duran and disclosure of the list of past Girardi complaints. A separate FAQ on that disclosure is here.
In January 2022, the State Bar announced it hired the law firm of Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP to examine how the State Bar handled complaints filed against disbarred attorney Thomas V. Girardi, and whether that process was affected by Girardi’s connections, to or influence, at the State Bar. During the 16-month investigation, Aaron May and his team reviewed over 950,000 documents, issued 23 subpoenas, and interviewed, either voluntarily or under compulsion, 74 witnesses. As a demonstration of its transparency and accountability to further the State Bar’s public protection mission, the Board is making the investigation report public.
Mr. May was chosen for his expertise, experience, and impeccable credentials. A founding partner of Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP in Los Angeles, he specializes in internal corporate investigations, litigation, white collar criminal defense, and complex commercial. He also formerly served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, prosecuting individuals and corporations for sophisticated federal financial crimes, including health care fraud, false claims, securities violations, criminal trademark and counterfeiting, tax violations, money laundering, and loan fraud. He has been practicing law in California since 2000.
The May report indicates that Girardi intentionally cultivated relationships at the State Bar to increase his influence. The report details instances where past members of the State Bar Board, leadership, and staff accepted Girardi’s gifts and failed to report them. The report spotlights nine individuals at both staff and executive levels who exercised poor judgment, ignored or poorly handled conflicts of interest, or behaved unethically in other ways. Most events cited in the report occurred before 2018, and none of the individuals named in the May report are still at the State Bar.
At least nine Girardi cases were handled by employees who had a connection to, or appear to have received benefits from, Girardi or his law firm. All of those cases were closed without public discipline. Eight of those cases were closed by individuals who May determined had conflicts of interest at the time they worked on the cases. The report found that these conflicts of interest impacted their decisions on the cases.
Mr. May named only those who his investigation indicated had connections or conflicts of interest with respect to Girardi or whose actions undermined conflict-of-interest procedures. Nevertheless, in the interests of transparency, we are providing additional names that we can disclose under applicable laws:
In 2021, attorney Alyse Lazar reviewed 115 files of past closed complaints against Girardi. The purpose was to determine whether anything in the files indicated that case-handling decisions were influenced by personal or financial relationships with or benefit to any of the individuals who were involved, including State Bar employees and outside counsel assigned to handle cases when staff have conflicts of interest.
While the Lazar report found no evidence of influence by Girardi in the files themselves, the findings noted errors in how cases were handled over the four decades of Girardi’s career. In particular, the report identified significant issues regarding the investigation and evaluation of high-dollar, high-volume trust accounts. The 2021 file review prompted several actions by the Board, including the retention of Aaron May to further examine the handling of the Girardi complaints as well as the creation of the Client Trust Account Protection Program. The Lazar report is being disclosed now in keeping with the Board’s commitment to transparency and accountability.
Taken together, the Lazar and May reports provide a clear and comprehensive review of how Girardi’s unethical and unacceptable behavior went unchecked for so long.
Redactions were made to ensure that the State Bar complies with applicable laws. The State Bar redacted case-related information that is confidential under California Business and Professions Code section 6086.1, which limits our ability to disclose information about investigations that did not result in formal charges to “confirming the fact of an investigation or proceeding, clarifying the procedural aspects and current status, and defending the right of the licensee to a fair hearing.” This law has a public protection purpose: it helps to ensure that complainants and witnesses feel comfortable coming forward and speaking freely when complaints are being investigated. Additional redactions relate to names and personal identifying information that is protected by the right to privacy; also, limited information was redacted at the request of law enforcement.
The State Bar is a very different organization now. As noted earlier, the staff named in the May report are no longer at the State Bar.
In recent years, we have instituted many safeguards to both prevent unethical or corrupt behavior and ensure that if it does occur, it is caught and addressed quickly. Numerous reforms have been made to address some of the issues that both reports highlighted, to ensure that lapses like those that occurred in the Girardi matter never happen again.
These include:
In addition, a new committee of the Board, the Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight and Accountability Reforms, has been evaluating additional steps that should be taken.
The cost of the Lazar file review was approximately $25,000. The cost of the May report was approximately $1.2 million.
The Ad Hoc Committee was formed in December 2022. The members of the committee are Trustees Arnie Sowell Jr., Hailyn J. Chen, and Melanie M. Shelby.
Staff is already taking steps to implement the committee’s recommendations for strengthening oversight, reporting, and training to prevent conflicts of interest. More information about these efforts can be found here.
After its members have fully considered the May report in conjunction with the Lazar report, the committee will make additional recommendations to further improve governance, oversight, and operations. The committee’s recommendations will be posted for public comment before being presented to the full Board of Trustees.
After leaving the State Bar having served in various roles, Mr. Hawley worked as a Special Deputy Trial Counsel (SDTC, also known as conflict counsel under Rule 2201). He served in this role between May 2019 and December 2021. In 2020, he handled four cases, none of them related to Girardi or his firm. Although his contracts as an SDTC allowed for compensation, he did not invoice for this work and was not paid for it. The Lazar report was conducted between March and May 2021. While the redacted version of the Lazar file review report mentions Mr. Hawley, it is only in relation to one case—in 2011—and states only that it was “appropriately handled by the outside examiner in coordination with State Bar staff.” (This staff reference refers to Mr. Hawley while he was employed by the State Bar.)
In February 2019, Mr. Hawley was asked to participate in an unreleased State Bar e-learning course based on his position as an adjunct law school professor teaching professional responsibility and his former roles at the State Bar. Staff prepared the script that he read from for these portions of the course, as they normally do for other participants. We will edit the portions of the course that include Mr. Hawley with a new speaker.