Workers Comp Executive - March 22, 2006
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If the United States were a classroom, California would be one of the kids in danger of being held back.
That's the conclusion of Washington, D.C.-based legal reform advocacy organization HALT, which handed the Golden State, home of the largest state bar in the U.S., an overall grade of "D+" for lawyer discipline, ranking it near the bottom 10 percent in the nation. Only six states (Arkansas, Alabama, Hawaii, Montana, North Carolina and Utah) scored worse. And of those, only North Carolina ("D") and Utah ("F") received lower grades. Connecticut, Colorado and Arizona fared best, with all three states receiving marks of "B-".
California has one of the slowest disciplinary systems in the country, taking a year to bring charges and 16 more months to impose sanctions.
The organization used six major criteria to reach its conclusion: adequacy of discipline, which includes grievance investigation rates; publicity of the disciplinary agency's services and responsiveness to consumers; openness of the attorney disciplinary process; procedural fairness, including whether states use "gag rules" against those who file complaints; public/non-lawyer participation on hearing committees; and promptness in filing formal charges against offending lawyers.
California is one of only six states where non-lawyers have absolutely no role in the process. "It gives the appearance that lawyers are policing other lawyers," remarks HALT Associate Counsel Suzanne Blonder. Indeed, HALT handed California an "F" in public participation.
Moreover, its investigation rate is abysmal: The group found that the state bar investigates one-third of all complaints against attorneys; and those few complaints that are investigated are hobbled by terrible delays. Attorneys often continue practicing without the public knowing complaints are pending against them.
So is there any good news? "We're happy with California in some ways," says Blonder. Unlike many states, California grants absolute immunity to complainants so they can file grievances without the threat of a defamation suit by the attorney. Also, the state has no gag rule that allows complainants to be held in contempt of court if they mention to friends, family or the media that they have filed a complaint.
For California to improve its ranking before HALT's next survey, which likely will be sometime between 2008 and 2010, Blonder says the state bar must afford the public more of a voice in the system so that it is perceived as fairer, and establishing deadlines so that grievances are resolved faster. "Justice delayed is often justice denied," Blonder says.
But she says the outlook for California is not promising. Budgets are decreasing and the state is not keeping up with its caseload. One can only hope the state bar gets the message to straighten up and fly right before its next embarrassing report card.
Blonder says one of the reasons California's ranking plummeted from 12th in the nation in 2002, to 45th this year, is its automated phone system. Unlike other large jurisdictions, "California has an incredibly complicated way for individuals to find out information about the [disciplinary] system," Blonder said in a recent phone interview.
California's automated phone system is so impenetrable, says Blonder, that even HALT researchers had to use personal contacts within the State Bar of California to get answers to their questions. Because many people do not know that the state bar is the appropriate agency to file an ethics complaint with, and those who do can end up in a phone maze that prevents contact with an actual staffer, complainants often come to HALT for assistance, she says.
Nearly 150,000 lawyers hold active licenses in California.
Copyright © 2006 Providence Publications, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
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