Bar Leader Vows to End Discipline Case Pileup

The California State Bar’s backlog of disciplinary complaints against lawyers, which recently caused state legislators to consider stripping the Bar of its disciplinary function, will be brought under control by the end of next year, the Bar’s new president-elect asserts.

Orville (Jack) Armstrong, 57, chosen to head the state’s 103,000 lawyers Friday, also said he firmly believes that the Bar has a duty to lobby on any legislation concerning the administration of justice, despite legislative criticism.

Armstrong was chairman of the Bar Board of Governors’ Committee on Discipline two years ago when reforms were begun on the much-criticized disciplinary system. He proposed establishing an investigative staff, now in operation, to aid Bar-employed lawyers in processing the discipline cases.

Hiring, Spending Freezes

Last year, when the Legislature refused to pass a bill enabling the Bar to collect dues from all the state’s lawyers because of the discipline debacle, Armstrong was chairman of the Bar’s Committee on Administration and Finance, which imposed hiring and spending freezes and sought voluntary payment of dues.

Seasoned in dealing with the Legislature, Armstrong said he will continue efforts to improve relations with legislators and that a key to smoothing over past differences is the Bar’s disciplinary system.

“It is not a prediction, but more of a statement that we will meet the Legislature’s goals by the end of 1987,” he told The Times. “That is one of those issues without alternative.”

The Legislature, after threatening to establish an independent government body to handle lawyer discipline, left the duty to the Bar but said it must reduce the time for investigation of complaints to six months.

Armstrong said with the new investigative staff, the Bar is well on its way to meeting that goal. Previously, many cases required 18 months or more to determine whether the complaint should be dismissed or be processed in State Bar Court.

Clarification Sought

On the lobbying issue, Armstrong said clarification is needed by the California Supreme Court on a recent Sacramento appellate court ruling prohibiting Bar expressions on ideological or election issues.

The restrictions, he said, could preclude the Bar from taking any stand on tax crusader Paul Gann’s “fair pay” initiative, scheduled for the November ballot, which would put a lid on public employees’ salaries.

“I feel Gann affects all lawyers and clearly fits within the subject of administration of justice, which we have a legitimate role in discussing,” Armstrong said. “But I will say nothing about Gann until we get some clarification.”

Armstrong said the Board of Governors on its own, before the Sacramento court ruling, had already restricted the subject matter of resolutions that can be put before the Bar’s Conference of Delegates at its annual meeting. Legislators had criticized resolutions dealing with such subjects as foreign policy or legalization of marijuana.

“It may be only hope,” Armstrong said, “but I have the instinctive reaction that our Legislature crisis is diminished.”

Armstrong, a member of the Los Angeles firm of Macdonald, Halsted & Laybourne and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers who specializes in civil and business litigation, will succeed current Bar President David M. Heilbron of San Francisco next September.