Jon B. Streeter

Last year, Streeter began his term as State Bar president worrying about the past. He's been able to finish it focused on the future.

Initially, he had to quell the previous year's tensions over changing the bar governing board's structure. Under a legislative mandate to revamp governance, board members split badly in 2010-11 about whether future lawyers on the board should be elected by other lawyers or appointed by the state Supreme Court. The Legislature ultimately compromised on some of each.

But the "intense infighting" within the bar's governance task force "took its toll on the effectiveness of the board," Streeter said.

So after taking office last September, he "led the bar through a difficult period ... to a new sense of unity and shared mission."

For the rest of 2011, he and many other bar officials attacked the persistent backlog of lingering, unresolved discipline cases. Jayne Kim, the bar's brand-new chief prosecutor, finally zeroed out the backlog in late December.

This year, Streeter's major goal has been "to study a variety of issues relative to the regulation of the practice that we hope will improve the level of competence of lawyers and better match their skill sets to the kinds of needs that clients will have in future years."

At the top of those efforts is the 21-member "Task Force on Admission Regulation Reform" that Streeter chairs. It's looking into requiring that would-be California lawyers go through some sort of practical skills training before or right after being admitted.

The special panel also will consider ending California's unusual practice of allowing law schools to operate without being accredited by either the State Bar or the American Bar Association.

Many states have some sort of new-admittee skills requirement, ranging from extra continuing education to short-term apprenticeship programs. Streeter's task force is mulling whether California needs something similar.

"It may be that we can combine some of these approaches and offer ... a choice to new lawyers," he said. "I'm not going to be suggesting a one-size-fits-all approach."

Streeter's other major project as State Bar president has been working to restore funding for the state court system, which has seen more than $1 billion cut from its budget over the past few years. He and an ad hoc group called the Open Courts Coalition put on a series of events that spread the message that the courts need saving.

While the budget cuts have been severe, Streeter said they could have been much worse.

"This is going to be an issue that we will be dealing with for many years to come."

- DON J. DEBENEDICTIS