State Bar closes search for executive directory, for now

The State Bar has closed its search for a new executive director and probably will begin again in the future, but the interim holder of the post is remaining for now, Alan Steinbrecher said Thursday during his last meeting as chair of the board of trustees.

He said the bar could not comment on individual candidates or other aspects of the search.

"But I can inform you that the current search for an executive director has been closed," Steinbrecher said. "I expect that the board in the future will conduct a new search for a new executive director. But in the meantime, Donna Hershkowitz, who has been serving as the interim executive director, has agreed to continue in that capacity."

The announcement followed the bar's previous rescinding of an offer to Fredericka McGee, the American Beverage Association's vice president of California government affairs.

Several of McGee's supporters objected to the bar's actions during a previous public board meeting.

On Thursday, the board also discussed the bar's proposed members to the newly formed Closing the Justice Gap Working Group to further the recommendations of the former Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services.

According to the agenda item posted before the meeting, the bar received 95 applications from people wanting to join the new group.

Three of the people the bar recommended for consideration were previous members of the former task force: Kevin E. Mohr, professor at Western State College of the Law; Bridget F. Gramme, director of Center for Public Interest Law; and Toby R. Rothschild, of-counsel to OneJustice.

The board authorized the formation of the working group on May 14.

It will continue to explore and evaluate proposals for permitting nonlawyer ownership of law firms and fee-sharing and closer collaboration between lawyers, law firms, technologists and entrepreneurs.

Arizona and Utah have recently approved similar actions.

During the meeting, Trustee Sonia T. Delen said she would want a greater diversity among the proposed members.

Jason Solomon, executive director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession, also brought up the lack of consumer representation in the group, during the public comment period.

"I also would like to find out how it is that we don't have any Asian American Pacific Islander representation on the roster," Delen said during the meeting. "I would wish that we would have a voting [Asian Pacific Islander] member on the roster, as well as direct consumers, as has been mentioned earlier."

After a suggestion from the incoming chair, Sean M. SeLegue, partner at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, the board postponed the vote.

The board also decided to send the proposed rules of the temporary licensure program for California 2020 graduates to the state Supreme Court, which directed the bar to develop the program. The court also lowered the passing score from 1,440 to 1,390.

The program would allow bar applicants to skip the bar exam for a limited time to practice under attorney supervision until June 1, 2022. After that, the applicant would have to take the exam to remain in practice.

The proposal also directed the provisional licensure working group to discuss whether to suggest to the court at a later date expanding the program to applicants who scored at least 1,390 on previous exams and if those applicants should gain admission to the bar after completing the program.