Bar fees bill passes Assembly with requirement for updated discipline report

The 2021 version of the annual State Bar bill isn’t named after Tom Girardi. But the disgraced former celebrity attorney has played a major role in the debate over SB 211.

The bill passed the full Assembly 72-0 on Tuesday and now heads back to the Senate, which will need to sign off on the latest amendments. Bar due bills have often passed on nearly unanimous votes. But Assembly Judiciary Chair Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, acknowledged this year has not been typical when he introduced SB 211 on the Assembly floor.

“This is our opportunity to ensure that the State Bar is performing its functions as a protector of the public interest and the attorney discipline issues that have come to the fore,” Stone said. “This bill is pushing the State Bar to do a better job with attorney discipline.”

Girardi has become a poster child for the bar’s discipline failures. In December, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin in Chicago froze Girardi’s assets after finding he had misappropriated $2 million in client funds. Dozens of former clients have now sued Girardi over allegations of stolen money in other cases going back years.

The bar suspended Girardi’s license in March. In June, the bar acknowledged it may have prematurely dismissed some earlier complaints against him. The version of SB 211 the Assembly passed includes bar dues of $395 annually for an active license and $97.40 for inactive bar members, the same as the current fees.

The bill’s author, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Thomas J. Umberg, D-Santa Ana, removed the dues provisions in May. He cited the bar’s failure to name a permanent chief trial counsel for the past five years.

When he introduced SB 211 in the Assembly Judiciary Committee in July, Umberg said he was hopeful the Bar would soon name a permanent counsel. He didn’t mention Girardi at that hearing, but the bar board’s chair did. Sean M. SeLegue told lawmakers the board was “dismayed by the lapses in investigation and prosecution revealed by our independent audit” of the discipline system.” SeLegue also testified the bar could not fix its discipline system without funding.

Umberg agreed to add the fees back into the bill last week after the bar announced it had appointed George S. Cardona to the job, with an anticipated start date of Oct. 4 pending Senate confirmation. Cardona spent 24 years as an assistant U.S. Attorney and teaches criminal trial advocacy at UCLA School of Law.

“The State Bar is pleased at the progress on the fee bill and look forward to our continued work with the Legislature on reforms that will further strengthen the State Bar in fulfilling its mission of public protection, improving access to legal services, and furthering diversity in the profession,” said spokeswoman Teresa Ruano in an emailed statement. “We are thrilled to have appointed George Cardona as the new chief trial counsel and appreciate Senator Umberg recognizing how this appointment demonstrates the commitment of the State Bar to have a fair and effective attorney discipline system.”

State Auditor Elaine Howle’s office detailed the bar discipline system’s failures in a damning report in April. It found the bar failed to properly monitor the performance of its discipline system since a 2016 reorganization which also came in response to an auditor’s report.

This year’s bill directs the auditor to complete another report on the discipline program by next April 15, allowing lawmakers to see the result before the passage of the next fees bill. SB 211 also removes the bar’s governing restrictions on the California Lawyers Association, finalizing a split with the trade association that began in 2017.

Umberg’s office did not respond to a call and email seeking comment.