Can you keep a secret? Pursuing professionalism and privacy

Most new lawyers are thrilled to raise their right hand to be sworn into the ranks of the State Bar, relieved they finally cleared all the hurdles to join a noble, respected, and exciting profession. Fueled by the desire to fight for justice they venture into practice, briefcase in one hand, laptop in the other, ready to change the world. Many new lawyers sample a variety of different types of cases as they settle into their sweet spot, where passion meets proficiency. And as new lawyers find their niche, the California State Bar offers the opportunity to go above and beyond in terms of continued credentialing.

Calling Certified Specialists

The California State Bar certifies attorneys as specialists who have gone above and beyond the standard licensing requirements, seeking to continue to grow and specialize in a certain area. 2024 California Rule of Court 9.35, which served as the basis for creating the State Bar Legal Specialization program, defines a “legal specialist” in subdivision (a) as a California attorney holding a certificate as a specialist “issued by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization or any other entity approved by the State Bar to designate specialists.”

The program, which was the first of its kind in America and serves as a model for other state certifications of legal specialists, was intended to increase protection of the public and attorney competence. As a practical matter, it is also a sign of commitment, success, and marketability within a particular area of law.

Accordingly, legal specialization is a certification that must be earned. The State Bar specifies the path to achieving and maintaining certification as an ongoing process of continued competence.

Certification as a Process

Lawyers seeking legal specialization must have practiced law continuously for at least five years, and must pass a written examination in the area of legal specialization, have a practice where they spend at least 25% of their time in the area of specialization, complete more continuing education in the specialty area than that required of general licensees, demonstrate a broad-based and comprehensive experience in their area of specialty, and be evaluated favorably by attorneys and judges who are familiar with the attorney’s work in the area of specialization.

Once certified, specialists must maintain their certification by paying the annual Legal Specialization Program Fee, reporting compliance of their education requirement by completing 36 hours of LSCLE every three years—a requirement that is conveniently due concurrently with their usual MCLE reporting date, and recertifying every five years through reporting compliance of their task, experience, and reference requirements.

California currently recognizes a variety of areas of specialization ranging from criminal law to family law, admiralty and maritime to immigration and nationality, taxation to bankruptcy. But there is active discussion about the prospect of adding an additional area of specialization in an area that many modern lawyers and clients care deeply about: privacy.

Privacy Law

The California State Bar has established a Consulting Group on the Establishment of a Legal Specialization in Privacy Law. This proactive group of lawyers is tasked with analyzing whether there is sufficient need and interest to create a specialty within the practice area of privacy law, including whether this area is appropriately defined to the extent that a specialization would be useful. The California State Bar website, which explains the rationale and goal of this venture, states that if the Privacy Law Group concludes that this certification is appropriate and feasible, the next step will be to draft certification standards that will be reviewed by the California Board of Legal Specialization as well as the State Bar Board of Trustees.

The Privacy Law Group will have 13 members, including up to two public members. Interested parties who wish to receive Group Notifications may subscribe to the California Board of Legal Specialization email list.

Many lawyers are excited about the possibility of furthering their experience and expertise in an area with so much relevance to the modern world in a variety of ways, from confidentiality to computing with artificial intelligence.

Interested practitioners who want to follow the most recent developments may subscribe to the California Board of Legal Specialization email list to receive meeting notifications for the Privacy Law Group. Stay tuned as this exciting new potential development continues to take shape.