Jason P. Lee

Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye gave some cover last fall to incoming State Bar Board of Trustees Chair Lee as she swore him into office at the board’s annual meeting in Los Angeles.

“Let me just say flatly, the State Bar needs a dues increase,” Cantil-Sakauye said. “Now, the real question is, how much?”

Lee is the first Chinese-American and the youngest attorney to serve as the 250,000-member State Bar’s board chair. He’s responsible for the group’s strategic planning, including prioritization of resources in attorney discipline, attorney admissions and education and technology infrastructure.

All that takes money, but raising dues is nobody’s favorite task. “Dues have been a priority,” Lee said. “I do field some difficult questions because of the burden a raise places on attorneys. But we’re trying to keep the agency afloat and keep people employed.”

Lee estimated he spends about 40% of his time on State Bar activities and the rest as general counsel of two wealth management firms.

When Lee took the oath as chair, dues were $308 per year and hadn’t been raised in two decades, though various add-ons had increased, including a discipline fee, a client security fund fee and a fee for the Lawyer Assistance Program.

The trustees sought a $100 base fee increase; plus a one-time fee of up to $250 for capital improvements; and another one-time fee of $80 for the Client Security Fund. The state auditor recommended scaling it back. In July, the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee passed a $544 active attorney dues bill. Lee said at the time the bar wanted to waive the fee increase entirely for attorneys making less than $90,000 annually, but that wouldn’t work for technical reasons. Instead, the bill offers a 25% discount to attorneys making less than $60,000.

“I get anger and understanding, mixed,” Lee said. “To the extent that people’s concerns can be addressed, I have tried to highlight the good things happening.”

Those include, he said, a reform agenda that split the State Bar’s administrative functions from its trade-association activities.

“The associational aspects now reside in the CLA,” he went on, referring to the new California Lawyers Association. “Our core mission is to regulate fraud, the unauthorized practice of law and our diversity efforts — we need to show that we’re working.”

Lee’s term ends in September.

“It’s been one of my greatest professional experiences,” he said. “And I hit every high and low.”

— John Roemer