State high court denies ex-DA candidate’s law license reinstatement request

The state Supreme Court last week rejected the law license reinstatement request of former Orange County District Attorney candidate Lenore Albert.

The court suspended Albert in February for failing to pay discovery sanctions totaling roughly $5,735, but the State Bar reinstated her days before the June primary election in light of her chapter 13 bankruptcy filing. The bar again suspended Albert in late June after her bankruptcy case was converted to chapter 7.

The court wrote in a one-sentence en banc order issued Wednesday that it was denying Albert's motion to be reinstated and to have her State Bar costs and fees waived. No explanation was given for the court's denial of Albert's motion, an action the bar had recommended. Albert on Discipline, S243927.

Albert expressed displeasure with the court's order and said she plans to seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I am a half dead carcass lying in the middle of a dirt road on a hot summer day with the California Bar flying overhead like vultures as the California Supreme court watches and does nothing," Albert, of Westminster, wrote in an email Friday.

"Their complicity is criminal," she added.

Bar spokeswoman Rebecca Farmer said the agency had no comment on the state Supreme Court's order.

The court requested information from the bar in early June about Albert's compliance with its order suspending her for 30 days and mandating she pay more than $18,000 in disciplinary costs in addition to the sanctions.

The court later invited the bar and Albert to provide supplemental briefing about the outcome of a June 19 hearing in Albert's bankruptcy case "and what effect, if any, that outcome has on the parties' positions in this matter." One day after the court's letter, the bar re-suspended Albert.

"Now that your case has been converted to chapter 7 bankruptcy, the costs you owe as a condition of your reinstatement are non-dischargeable as a matter of law," wrote Donna S. Hershkowitz, the bar's chief of programs, in a June 28 letter to Albert. "This means that the California Supreme Court's December 13, 2017 disciplinary order is no longer impacted by your pending bankruptcy proceedings."

Albert unsuccessfully countered the bar's arguments about the dischargeability of her debts in a response to the court.

Meanwhile, Albert's bankruptcy proceedings remain active. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Erithe Smith of the Central District recently denied Albert's motion for sanctions against the bar and other creditors for allegedly violating the automatic stay under U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Smith wrote that the motion was moot as a result of the conversion of the case to chapter 7 but said Albert could file a new motion if she believed one was warranted. In re Albert, 18-BK10548 (C.D. Cal., filed Feb. 20, 2018).

Albert recently filed a request for a temporary restraining order in bankruptcy court that would require the bar to reinstate her license.