State Bar’s Discipline

I write in response to your article on the state bar’s attempts to police itself (Metro, April 2). I am a third-year law student at UCLA, admittedly inexperienced, but it is clear to me that the Bar requires a massive increase in administrative funds. What shocks me is the reluctance of California lawyers to give a little more to restore the public’s faith.

I have read that the increase in bar dues to $470 per year would be but a small step toward truly efficient monitoring of lawyers’ performance. Not hard to believe, because it takes lawyers to catch bad lawyers and that process can be very expensive.

I propose a progressive scale for bar dues. Those attorneys starting out in the profession would pay $470, or less than a semester’s tuition at a state law school. Those with more experience (and often earning $100,000 or much more) would have to contribute more--could $1,000 or $2,000 in dues really put these lawyers out that much? The reward would come quickly. After all, we learn every day of a barrister gone awry. The profession must devote the necessary financial and professional resources to self-policing before the state decides we have had our chance and blown it.

CHARLES O. GEERHART

Los Angeles