Bar Board Sets Standards for Lawyer Discipline

The first specific disciplinary standards for California lawyers found guilty of misconduct have been unanimously approved by the State Bar Board of Governors.

Responding to complaints of leniency in the disciplinary system, the board voted for penalties that include disbarment, in most cases, for willful misappropriation of trust funds and for any third-time disciplinary offense.

The standards take effect next year. At the same time, a Bar-sponsored bill approved by the Legislature will take effect that requires disbarment for certain felonies in which a client was the victim and allows the Bar to suspend lawyers facing serious disciplinary or criminal charges.

The Bar, which receives more than 8,000 complaints a year, can recommend suspensions and disbarments to the state Supreme Court and can act on its own to impose milder penalties such as public reprovals. But the Bar has never set standards to guide its recommendations for particular offenses. As a result, penalties sometimes differ widely for lawyers guilty of the same misconduct.

Bar President David Heilbron said the guidelines, announced Friday, are stricter than model rules proposed by the American Bar Assn.

Although the standards will not be binding on the court, they are likely to be influential, since the court accepts the Bar’s recommendations for discipline about 90% of the time.

These are some of the new standards:

- Mingling entrusted funds with the lawyer’s own property, without willful misappropriation: At least a three-month suspension.

- Willfully failing to perform services: Disbarment, if a pattern of conduct shows the lawyer’s abandonment of the cases; otherwise, reproval or suspension, depending on the extent of misconduct and harm to the client.

- Charging an unconscionable fee: At least a six-month suspension.