Yes. Any licensee who was active for any part of the reporting period and who did not meet one of the exemptions in Business and Professions Code section 6073.2(d) for the entire reporting period is required to report the amount of pro bono service hours provided in the past year. Even licensees who are exempt from reporting their pro bono hours must declare their exemption status in My State Bar Profile. 

Yes. All communications with the Ethics Hotline are confidential and not shared with third parties or disciplinary authorities. The Ethics Hotline does not make referrals to the Office of Chief Trial Counsel.

Additional tips before you call:

• Have a clear and concise summary of your ethical question or fact pattern.
• Be prepared to provide relevant context but avoid disclosing client-identifying information.
• Review the California Rules of Professional Conduct beforehand, if possible—it may help you frame your question more effectively.

Applications will be accepted once the program is operative.

State law (Business and Professions Code section 6173) requires the State Bar to create a certification program for ADR firms, providers, and practitioners. The statute also establishes some requirements for the program.

Your Supervising Attorney must be an active licensee of the State Bar of California in good standing. They must have practiced law for at least four years in any United States jurisdiction and have actively practiced law in California or taught in a California law school for at least two years immediately preceding the time of supervision. Please refer to California Rules of Court 9.42 (a)(4).

An applicant who graduates from a JD or LLM program or completes four years of recognized study through the LOS Program is eligible to apply for the CLS Program for up to 30 days after their graduation or completion of studies.

You may find client trust accounting resources and training materials on the State Bar’s Client Trust Accounting Resources and Materials webpage, and there is more information about the CTAPP compliance review program on the CTAPP Compliance Review webpage.

All records submitted for the compliance review are retained securely by the State Bar and/or CPA firm within the State Bar Audit Platform for the duration required to complete the review and fulfill regulatory obligations. The CPA firms agree that the State Bar will retain all files. Confidentiality and privilege protections remain in place. After the review is concluded, records are handled in accordance with the State Bar’s retention policies and applicable confidentiality rules.

When the State Bar selects an attorney for a compliance review, the review is conducted on the firm’s trust accounting practices. The cost of a compliance review will generally range between $5,000 and $10,000. However, poor recordkeeping, slow response times in turning over requested documents, and unclear communications will generally require the CPA to spend more time completing the compliance review, potentially increasing the cost. On the other hand, records that are well-maintained and comply with the rules outlined in the scope of the compliance review procedures published for public comment will likely result in lower costs to attorneys.

Live Scan vendors are contracted through the DOJ and are not under the authority of the State Bar. Live Scan vendor complaints may be submitted to the State Bar, which will be sent to the DOJ. If you recently submitted your fingerprints through a DOJ-contracted Live Scan vendor and have had a negative experience, we encourage you to complete the Live Scan Vendor Complaint Form and email the completed form to the State Bar.

Failure to comply with the audit by the deadline will result in the assessment of a $103 late penalty and the issuance of a 60-day notice. Failure to pay the penalty and comply with the audit by the deadline on the notice will result in your placement on Administrative Inactive Status or Not Eligible to Practice status until you submit the required proof of compliance, pay the $103 penalty and an additional $205 reinstatement fee. You will not be eligible for reinstatement until you comply with the audit.  You may also be referred to the State Bar discipline system for filing a false declaration of compliance.

Please only submit letters printed on official letterhead. They may be scanned and sent as an attachment to the Licensee Records and Compliance Inquiry form.

The State Bar's Office of Information Technology is responsible for ensuring all data obtained and stored is kept secure and confidential. The data collection and storage process meets industry standards for retaining information in a secure and confidential manner. Survey data is stored on a secure server behind a firewall in a location accessible only by State Bar staff.  All State Bar surveys are subject to the following confidentiality statement: 

• Use of survey results: If published, survey results will be presented by the State Bar in an anonymous and aggregate summary format only.  

• Confidentiality: The State Bar takes reasonable measures to maintain the confidentiality of individual responses and will not disclose those responses to third parties unless we are legally required to do so.  

• Data handling: All participant information will be stored securely and will only be accessed by authorized State Bar personnel. We adhere to applicable laws and regulations regarding the collection, use, and protection of personal information. 

• Informed consent: By participating in this survey, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this notice. You agree to the handling of your information as described above. Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary, and you may choose not to answer any specific question or withdraw from the survey at any time. 

California Rule of Court Rule 9.9.5, requires all active attorneys to be re-fingerprinted. This is done to ensure that the State Bar is in compliance with Business and Professions Code Section 6054, which requires the State Bar to receive notifications of attorney arrests and convictions from the California Department of Justice (DOJ).

For the past 30 years the State Bar has been statutorily required to receive notification of subsequent arrests and convictions from the DOJ. Until 2018, the State Bar was out of compliance with this statutory mandate.

The only way for the State Bar to come fully into compliance is to re-fingerprint licensed attorneys. Although attorneys were fingerprinted at the time of admission to the State Bar, unfortunately neither the State Bar nor the DOJ retained those fingerprints for future notification services.

We apologize for our previous failure to comply with a statutory mandate, and for any inconvenience that may result from the re-fingerprinting attorneys will need to undergo. However this is a new State Bar focused on regulation and public protection. This Rule of Court enables statutory compliance and reflects the State Bar’s commitment to protecting the public.

Attorneys in the Pro Bono Practice Program may volunteer with a qualified legal services provider, a certified lawyer referral service, a court-based self-help center, or a nonprofit that provides free legal services to or on behalf of indigent Californians and has been approved by the State Bar as a pro bono legal services provide from the purposes of the Pro Bono Practice Program. See more information here.

A “qualified legal services provider” is one that receives funding from the State Bar’s Legal Services Trust Fund (IOLTA) Program. For a current list of grantees see theLegal Services Trust Fund Recipientson the State Bar’s website.

The State Bar's statutory mission includes support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system. This office takes the lead on many of the agency's access to justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The State Bar is California's largest legal aid funder, and this office distributes over $100 million annually in grants to more than 100 legal aid organizations statewide. The office also leads development of policy initiatives and collaborates with other organizations working to expand legal services access for all Californians. These efforts include encouraging pro bono participation; supporting a statewide Disaster Legal Services Response network; studying law school attrition data and working with law schools to develop improved approaches to student retention. The office also oversees the State Bar's DEI Leadership Seal program, which recognizes California legal employers that commit to implementing or are already implementing actions that further DEI in the workplace. 

All foreign-language documents must be accompanied by an English translation by a certified translator; the original foreign-language documents must also be submitted. 

Your My State Bar Profile will indicate the steps you must take to satisfy the fingerprinting rule requirement. Compliance with the Rule will be effective on the date you submit proof that you were fingerprinted pursuant to the State Bar’s instructions. For more information go to your My State Bar Profile.

The State Bar does not have a list of low-cost MCLE programs, only a complete list of all approved providers. Attorneys may find the following resources useful in determining the most convenient and cost-effective method of fulfilling requirements:

• Online CLE (California Lawyers Association)
• A local bar association
• Provider websites
• Legal daily newspapers and practice magazines, which may advertise/list approved activities or offer self-assessment tests

Attorneys can fulfill up to one-half of their total required MCLE hours by utilizing self-study options and should consider:

• sharing self-study tapes with fellow practitioners
• contacting their county law library for approved tapes that can be checked out for self-study credit

IOLTA stands for "Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts." Rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct requires attorneys who handle client funds or funds entrusted by others, including settlement checks, fees advanced for services not yet performed, or money to pay court fees, to hold those funds in one or more interest-bearing bank accounts labeled as a “Trust Account,” or words of similar import.

If the amount is large or the funds are to be held for a long period of time, the attorney must place the money in an individual interest-bearing account for the benefit of the client.

However, if the amount of client funds is small or the funds will be held for such a short period of time that they are not capable of earning interest for the client in excess of the cost of maintaining a separate bank account,  then they are pooled in a single account with similar funds of other clients.

The interest on these pooled-fund, IOLTA accounts is forwarded to the State Bar of California and used to support approximately 100 nonprofit legal aid organizations that provide civil legal aid to indigent and low-income people, seniors, and persons with disabilities.