Mayor backs out of deal to improve State Bar's relations with lawmakers

A day after it became public that the State Bar had hired Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to strengthen its relationship with lawmakers in the state Capitol, Steinberg said on Wednesday he was withdrawing from the assignment.

"The mayor had just been hired to work on this contract but has not started yet," said Mary Lynne Vellinga, a spokeswoman for Steinberg, in an email. "He has decided not to do it and has asked that the contract be canceled. The contract was to potentially authorize paraprofessionals to assist in criminal record clearing, helping folks with housing conflicts and also those dealing with debt. He considered it consistent with his push for justice for all."

Two powerful lawmakers recently said the agency should turn its focus away from initiatives to create alternatives to providing legal representation and concentrate on its core mission of finding and routing out of the profession corrupt attorneys like the plaintiffs' lawyer Thomas V. Girardi, who is accused of stealing millions of dollars from clients over several years. Critics have raised concerns about two separate bar working groups, one examining the "regulatory sandbox" and "innovative access to legal services," the other focused on paraprofessionals.

Steinberg was president pro tempore of the California Senate from 2008 to 2014. He was elected mayor in 2016 and reelected in 2020. Between these jobs, he chaired the California government law and policy practice at Greenberg Traurig LLP in Sacramento. In 2017, shortly after becoming mayor, Steinberg announced he was starting a consulting business. Steinberg Consulting shares his Sacramento home address, according to the contract.

Earlier on Wednesday, before Steinberg's announcement, the State Bar shared a copy of the $5,000 per month contract, which was to run from Nov. 10 until May 31, 2022 and was capped at $35,000, including out-of-pocket expenses, but was subject to renewal.

"These contracts were for the purposes of both strengthening our relationships in Sacramento and helping us to ensure that both the board of trustees and the Legislature hear from the broadest possible range of public perspectives on policy questions," State Bar Executive Director Leah Wilson said in an email.

She added, "The letter we received last week from our legislative partners highlighted the work we still need to do in improving our relationships in Sacramento, which was among our goals in hiring these consultants in November. Staff consulted with the board's legislative liaisons regarding the contracts before they were executed, and all funds to be used come from donations dedicated to legislative activities. However, the letter also prompted ongoing internal discussions about these consulting relationships and whether this will be the best way to achieve our goals."

The letter in question was sent on Dec. 7 by Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, and Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana. The chairs of the judiciary committees in their respective houses raised concerns with ideas being discussed by the bar's Closing the Justice Gap Working Group.

The group "has been exploring a proposed regulatory sandbox and proposals that would recommend allowing a participant in the sandbox who is not a licensed attorney to be exempt from existing statutory laws regarding the practice of law and rules of professional conduct," they wrote.

Stone's staff said he was unavailable to comment on Wednesday because he was co-chairing an all-day joint hearing with the Assembly Health Committee.

On Dec. 14, Ruben Duran, chair of the State Bar Board of Trustees, sent a reply letter saying the bar would consider "disbanding or suspending" the working group.

The bar has also contracted with two other consultants: A contract with California Strategies & Advocacy LLC runs until May and will earn the firm $7,500 a month, up to $45,000 total. There is also a recently signed $48,500 deal with Lucas Public Affairs to support the development of a five-year strategic plan.

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, called on the Legislature to hold hearings on "whether the Bar is exceeding its authority and what conflicts of interest exist."

"It looks like the State Bar is powering up with a PR and lobbying firms to deprofessionalize the legal profession even before the bar has voted to take such a position," Court wrote in an email. "This is an attempt to sway the Legislature, the public and the governor with heavyweight colleagues and a PR plan into buying into the notions that corporations should be allowed to practice law before the bar has even adopted that position officially as far as I know."