It is time to restore confidence in the State Bar

Near the end of 2020, the legal career of prominent trial attorney Thomas Girardi imploded after a federal judge accused him of stealing at least $2 million from his clients – widows and orphans – whose family members died in the Boeing 737-MAX plane crash in Indonesia. This was but the tip of the iceberg as to the serious and repeated allegations of misconduct against Thomas Girardi. It also began an examination as to why the State Bar, having received over two hundred reports of Girardi misconduct – over a 40 year period – had never taken action.

Tom Girardi’s financial web and sphere of influence reached so far within the State Bar that he was essentially bankrolling an employee in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel and the Executive Director’s Office and said employee’s family to the tune of close to $1 million – while the same organization was investigating him. Eventually, Girardi and his law firm, Girardi Keese, were forced into bankruptcy. This year, federal grand juries in Los Angeles and Chicago indicted Girardi on charges that he embezzled more than $18 million from his clients.

The State Bar’s most basic function is to protect California consumers. While the State Bar of California functions as the administrative arm of the California Supreme Court for the purpose of assisting in attorney admissions and discipline, the Supreme Court and Legislature still have oversight of the Bar. It is mind-boggling that the Bar in years past not only utterly failed this task, but also conspired to conceal obvious misconduct on the part of at least this one lawyer – Tom Girardi.

Like most lawyers, I have spent much of the last few years in shock as investigative journalists have, bit by bit, unraveled Tom Girardi’s interconnected web of corruption and influence. As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, it has been a core responsibility of my tenure to right these wrongs, hold people accountable, and work to restore the faith of lawyers and the public alike in California’s legal profession. Together, with my counterparts in the State Assembly, we have held numerous hearings in the past three years to demand explanation and accountability for Tom Girardi and other topics.

Astonishingly enough, bringing these stories and malfeasance to light was not enough for the Bar to police itself. It took withholding State Bar funds in 2021 – through a traditionally uncontroversial annual Bar Fees bill – to even push the Bar to finally appoint a Chief Trial Counsel after nearly five years of vacancy. If this crucial position had not been vacant for so long, this malfeasance may have been uncovered sooner. That same measure – SB 40 from 2022 – also strengthened conflict of interest statutes for members of the State Bar Board of Trustees and State Bar employees. SB 40 was signed into law on Oct. 10, 2023 as Chapter 697 of the Statutes of 2023. Its provisions will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Most recently, two independent audits into the Girardi scandal were released. The findings from the audits were distressing and detailed a history of weak internal enforcement of conflicts of interest and troubling relationships between employees of the State Bar and Girardi. As a consequence of the revelations in the reports, the Senate and Assembly Judiciary committees convened a joint oversight hearing. This hearing demonstrated that while the Bar had made progress – deficiencies in accountability and transparency in the Bar’s disciplinary process and operations remained.

Lawyers share a responsibility to each other and the public at-large, in this space, as well. It is inconceivable that attorneys in Tom Girardi’s firm, or even those employed by the Bar, repeatedly failed to act in the face of years of complaints, suspicions, and questionable behaviors. For that reason, I authored SB 42 last year to require attorneys to inform the State Bar when they know that a peer has engaged in professional misconduct. I am pleased to report that California joined the other 49 states when this requirement was administratively added by the California Supreme Court earlier this year.

In the midst of this turmoil, State Bar leaders requested a substantial fee increase to cover operations and to address a structural budget deficit. With the amount of controversy concerning the State Bar, my colleagues and I believed it would be premature to tax its members to provide the agency with additional funds. The Legislature has been clear in its direction to the State Bar to reform its disciplinary process and increase oversight and transparency before mandating fee increases upon its members. While there has been progress, there is still a ways to go to provide the public and lawyers with confidence in a system that is effective and fair.

In addition to maintaining the same licensing fees for 2024, this year’s Bar Fees bill will, among other things:

- Allow the State Bar to use building proceeds from the sale of its San Francisco office to pay for operating expenses;

- Prohibit private reproval letters moving forward;

- Require the California State Senate to confirm the Bar’s next Executive Director and General Counsel;

- Implement statutory language to complement the California Supreme Court’s mandatory reporting rule adopted earlier this year;

- Add a duty to report attorneys engaged in treason or sedition; and

- Implement a diversion/mentorship program for low-level and correctable attorney violations.

The Legislature has worked diligently in the wake of the Girardi scandal to substantially increase the chance that bad actors, including those who may be engaged in conspiracy against the government, will be caught and disciplined.

Ruben Duran had a difficult job as Chair of the Bar’s Board of Trustees. I look forward to continuing to partner with his successor, Brandon Stallings, to restore confidence in the State Bar and its mission to protect Californians. We owe it to the public, our clients, and ourselves to simply be better.