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.

Contact the LAP office for details about the income eligibility requirements and the application process. Financial assistance can cover up to one year of LAP group fees and one year of lab testing fees.

For more information, see the LAP Growth Grant Criteria.

Yes. Many legal aid and pro bono legal services providers offer training in substantive legal areas that volunteer attorneys may not already be familiar. You can learn about a new area of law and, in many cases, be connected with a mentor who is an expert in the field, who can answer questions that may come up as you go along. Pro bono work is a great way to gain both knowledge and experience. Contact a pro bono or qualified legal services provider to explore the opportunities. You can also find training opportunities through the Practising Law Institute or Pro Bono Training Institute.

The State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel handles complaints about unethical attorney conduct from several different sources, including clients, family and friends of clients, courts, opposing counsel, members of the public or other third parties, and anonymous submissions.

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 that the attorney may be a repeat offender or may have committed a violation where there is a serious likelihood of discipline being imposed, an investigator and a State Bar prosecutor take responsibility for the investigation.

The accused attorney is given an opportunity to respond, witnesses are contacted, and documents are reviewed. At the investigation’s conclusion, the State Bar decides 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.

The State Bar encourages individual licensees to pay their annual fees online through My State Bar Profile. When it is necessary to mail a payment, you must include either a copy of your invoice which can be generated online in your profile, or a copy of your fee statement, which is available to download in My State Bar Profile. The only exception to this is if your payment clearly indicates your bar number and VAK (your VAK is an additional bank validation code provided on your invoice and fee statement).

Failure to include a copy of your invoice or fee statement with your mailed payment may result in your payment being rejected and subject you to nonconforming payment penalties.

The State Bar no longer accepts cash payments, and we do not accept payments in person or over the phone.

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.

Approximately 100 legal service programs statewide receive IOLTA grants to provide much needed civil legal services to the most under-represented communities in California whose basic human needs are at stake, such as shelter, sustenance, safety, health, or child custody.

Many of the programs specialize in meeting the legal needs of particularly vulnerable groups such as children, homeless people, migrant workers, immigrants, Native Americans, persons with disabilities, seniors, and the institutionalized.

Payments submitted by mail are required to include either a copy of your invoice or fee statement. Send the invoice/fee statement and check to:

The State Bar of California
P.O. Box 842142
Los Angeles, CA 90084-2142

Go to Payment Summary, enter your Tester ID, then click the Next button. Your payment summary (receipt) will display.