Rule 9.40 of the California Rules of Court does not set a limit on the number of appearances an out-of-state attorney may make as PHV. However, the court determines if the applicant is ineligible for PHV due to multiple appearances.  

Client Trust Accounting (CTA) School provides an overview of the California Rules of Professional Conduct and relevant provisions of the State Bar Act and Rules of the State Bar relating to client trust accounting. The course is designed to help attorneys understand their fiduciary responsibilities, avoid common trust accounting violations, and maintain compliance. It is self-paced and available 24/7 on the State Bar’s E-Learning Portal. It replaces the previously offered live sessions.

The general requirement is that the report must be made within 30 days of the time you have knowledge of the triggering event.[1] Exceptions:

• If you have been newly licensed in another state or federal jurisdiction, or if your license in another jurisdiction has been terminated, you must report it on or before February 1 of each year.[2]
• If you employ a person who is disbarred, resigned, involuntarily inactive, or suspended, you must report it to the State Bar prior to or at the time the employment commences.[3]

Reporting duties are not stayed while a sanction order is on appeal.[4]

Simply browse the course catalog, select the course you're interested in, and click “Add to Cart.” Once you complete checkout, you’ll have immediate access to the course through your account dashboard. 

Make sure that you have completed all interactive elements on the screen. The “NEXT” button will only activate once all of the screen elements have been completed. In addition, please allow the screen seek bar to progress on its own. If you manually drag it to complete the course, the “NEXT” button may not activate properly.

Each case is different. Most disbarred attorneys fall into one of two categories: (1) They committed a very serious violation, such as perjury or stealing client funds, or (2) they have a history of misconduct.

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.

The course is approximately one and a half hours long, but you may complete it at your own pace and save your progress.

If you are taking the course as the result of being disciplined by the State Bar, CLE credit is not available. Attorneys completing the course for this purpose must submit a certificate of completion to the Office of Case Management and Supervision upon completion of the course.

If you are taking this course as a condition of an abeyance stipulation related to an Application for Determination of Moral Character, MCLE credit is not available. Individuals completing the course for this purpose must submit a certificate of completion to the Office of Admissions upon conclusion of the course.

When browsing the course catalog, select “CTA School—Client Trust Accounting Rules and Regulations.” Do not select the course that covers similar content (e.g., “Client Trust Accounting Rules and Regulations”). Taking any similar voluntary course will not satisfy your mandatory obligation to complete the course, whether mandated by an order of the California Supreme Court or the State Bar Court, or required by the Office of Admissions. To satisfy a mandatory obligation, you must take the mandatory CTA School course, which is not eligible for MCLE credit.

This service is available to licensed California attorneys, out-of-state attorneys, judges, paralegals, law firm administrators, law school students, and State Bar applicants, so long as the question is not related to a pending disciplinary investigation or case with the State Bar.

A date has not been set. It depends on when subgroups finish their recommendations and the Working Group approves its complete tentative proposal.

Possible outcomes of the compliance review include:

• Confirmation of compliance with no further action
• Recommendations for best practices for a compliance review with minimal findings
• A mandatory corrective action plan
• Escalation to an investigative audit
• Referral to the Office of Chief Trial Counsel for possible disciplinary action