State Bar Girds for Layoff of Most of Its Staff

The State Bar of California, fast running out of money, has sent layoff notices to nearly 500 employees, more than three-quarters of its work force.

Most of the layoffs will become effective June 26 if a stalemate over the bar’s funds is not resolved first; other layoffs are effective July 10.

The agency also is on the verge of shutting down its consumer complaint hotline and will not process new cases, Executive Director Steve Nissen announced Monday.

The State Bar, the agency that regulates and disciplines California’s 160,000 lawyers, has run out of cash, Nissen said.

Last fall, Gov. Pete Wilson cut off the bar’s chief source of income by vetoing the bill authorizing it to collect dues. Wilson said the organization had become bloated, arrogant and too involved in politics.

In January, bar officials--predicting the bar would run out of funds in early July--let 45 employees go in the first wave of layoffs, said spokeswoman Anne Charles. Another 80 employees have left voluntarily.

A new funding bill, which calls for restricting the bar’s lobbying, letting voluntary organizations take over some of its operations and cutting dues by 10%, needs the backing of the governor and Republican legislators.

“We will continue to work actively with the Legislature and the governor in an effort to reach such a resolution,” Nissen said.

The bar licenses and disciplines lawyers and runs a variety of legal programs, including mandatory continuing education for practicing lawyers, a Client Security Fund to reimburse victims of dishonest lawyers and a trust fund for legal services programs for the needy. All California lawyers are required to be members.