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The State Bar of California is California's official bar association. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, and prescribing appropriate discipline. It is directly responsible to the Supreme Court of California. It was formally launched on July 1, 1927, and by the end of 1928 had over 9,500 members.
Today, the State Bar is the largest such organization in the United States, with over 200,000 members, of whom 150,000 are on active status. Just like the Supreme Court of California, it is headquartered in San Francisco, with branch offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Legal status
California is among the majority of American states that operate an integrated bar, in which the bar association is integrated with the judiciary. Article 6, Section 9 of the California Constitution is as follows:
- The State Bar of California is a public corporation. Every person admitted and licensed to practice law in this State is and shall be a member of the State Bar except while holding office as a judge of a court of record.
The State Bar's structure, responsibilities and powers are further elaborated upon in the State Bar Act at Sections 6000-6238 of the Business and Professions Code. Anyone who practices law in the state of California must be a member of the State Bar, or else he or she will be guilty of the crime of unauthorized practice of law.
Oddly, the State Bar of California is one of a small number of integrated bar associations where much of its fee structure must be ratified annually by both the legislature and the governor. Without such special authorization, it can charge California lawyers only $77 per year.
In October 1997, then-Governor Pete Wilson vetoed the fee authorization bill for that year. He pointed out that California's bar had the highest annual fee in the country, at $478. He also claimed that the State Bar had become bloated and inefficient, and he criticized its Conference of Delegates for taking positions on divisive political issues like abortion.Bob Egelko, "Judgment Time For State Bar," Los Angeles Daily News, 21 June 1998, p. N9.
As a result, the State Bar was forced to lay off 500 of its 700 personnel on June 26, 1998.Harriet Chiang, "State Bar Layoffs Mean Slow Complaint Response," San Francisco Chronicle, 26 June 1998, sec. A, p. 21. For six months, the State Bar's attorney disciplinary system was nonfunctional. On December 3, 1998, the Supreme Court of California unanimously held that it had the power to impose an emergency annual fee of $171.44 on all California lawyers to fund the attorney disciplinary system. See In re Attorney Disciplinary System, 19 Cal. 4th 582 (1998) *. By then, the backlog of unprocessed complaints had soared to 6,000.
On September 7, 1999, Governor Gray Davis signed a bill which set the annual fee for the State Bar at $395, thus ending the funding crisis. Since then, the State Bar has undertaken several reforms to improve the efficiency of its operations (which has caused many of its past critics to moderate their rhetoric). It also split off the controversial Conference of Delegates into a separate volunteer organization.
Lawyer admissions
The task of deciding whom to admit to the bar is performed by the Committee of Bar Examiners and the Office of Admissions under procedures set out in the State Bar Act.
The different ways to become an attorney in California
California provides five basic paths to becoming a licensed attorney: (1) Attend a law school accredited by the American Bar Association) and pass the bar exam; (2) Attend a law school approved by the State Bar of California and pass the bar exam; (3) Attend a law school unapproved by the State Bar of California (including online law schools) and pass the bar exam; (4) Participate in an approved course of study in a law office or the chambers of a judge and pass the bar exam; or (5) Already be licensed in another state or foreign jurisdiction and take the California bar exam. Lawyers who are already licensed in another jurisdiction may be able to waive out of taking the Multistate Bar Examination portion of the exam. Regardless of the path one takes to becoming a licensed attorney, most bar applicants take a special preparation course for the exam immediately following their graduation from law school.There is no citizenship requirement for admission to the California bar; a person can be a citizen of any country and be admitted to practice in California. No particular type of visa, including a green card, is required for admission to the bar. However, applicants must have a Social Security Number to apply.
Prospective applicants must also pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination and undergo an extensive inquiry into their "good moral character."
"Baby Bar"
Those students choosing to become a licensed attorney through law schools and programs unaccredited by the ABA or State Bar of California Committee of Bar Examiners, or if the student does not first posses a four year college degree prior to being accepted into an accredited program or law school, must complete the First-Year Law Students' Examination, popularly known as the "Baby Bar Examination", before receiving credit for their law study. Students must pass it within three administrations after first becoming eligible to take the examination, which is upon completion of the first year of law study, in order to receive credit for law study undertaken up to the point of passage.
The famously difficult California bar exam
California administers a difficult bar examination twice each year, in February and July.Anna Oberthur, “Raising the Bar and the Meaning of Success: California’s Notorious Legal Exam Becomes a Crossroads Where Failure Can Lead to Happiness,” San Francisco Daily Journal, 23 May 2006, 1. Several prominent attorneys and politicians have had difficulty passing it, including Antonio Villaraigosa, Kathleen Sullivan, Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson.Oberthur, 1.The bar examination consists of the Multistate Bar Examination (6 hours), 6 essays (1 hour each), and 2 performance tests (3 hours each), for a total of 18 hours of exam time spread over three days. The only other state with a longer exam is Louisiana.
The exam tests 13 different subject areas:
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence
- Real Property
- Torts
- Wills (California law)
- Trusts
- Civil Procedure
- Community Property (California law)
- Professional Responsibility (California law and ABA MPRC)
- Corporations
- Remedies
California-specific legal knowledge is only required for Wills, Community Property, and Professional Responsibility; for the other topics, either general legal knowledge ("bar exam law") or the federal laws apply. Beginning in July 2007, applicants will be tested on the California laws of Evidence and Civil Procedure in the essay portion of the exam instead of federal law.
The Multistate Bar Examination portion of the exam is a 200 question multiple choice exam, and counts for 35% of the total score in California. The MBE covers the topics of contracts, property, torts, constitutional law, criminal law & procedure, and evidence.
The performance test is designed to test practical lawyering skills by presenting applicants with simulations of actual legal tasks. This section counts for 26% of the total score. The performance exam is a "closed universe" setting, meaning that the only substantive information the applicant needs to know is what is provided with the exam. Even if cases and statutes are provided, they are often dramatically different from the real law in the area at issue, so that applicants who studied that area of law in law school will have no special advantage.
The exam sites are usually large convention centers in Northern and Southern California. Exam security is extremely tight. For example, proctors are assigned to stand in restrooms for the duration of the entire exam to prevent applicants from asking each other for assistance.Oberthur, 1. Overall bar exam pass rates tend to hover between 40 and 50%, and are usually among the lowest in the United States. First-time takers, however, have a pass rate around 60%.
One reason for the low pass rates is that California allows graduates of law schools that have not been accredited by the American Bar Association to take its bar exam. In contrast, graduates of ABA schools have a first-time pass rate of approximately 69%, while graduates of non-ABA schools pass at a rate of about 25% on the first try. In addition, repeat takers may take the exam as many times as necessary to pass; approximately 15% of repeaters pass the exam on each administration. See the July 2004 and July 2005 bar exam statistics.
The MBE has always been administered through the standard method of having applicants fill in bubbles on a paper form with a No. 2 pencil. As for the essay and performance exam portions, applicants traditionally wrote them using pen and paper or typed them on a typewriter. Since 2000, applicants have had the option of using special software known as SofTest to type those portions on their laptop computers.
Professional responsibility
California is the only state which does not use either set of professional responsibility rules developed by the American Bar Association. California professional responsibility law is divided between California Business and Professions Code Section 6068 (the statutory duties of an attorney), the California Rules of Professional Conduct, and a number of uncodified cases. A few of the CRPC rules have clearly been inspired by ABA rules, though.
Of all American states, California is notorious for imposing the strongest duty of confidentiality upon its attorneys. There were no exceptions to the rule until 2004, when Section 6068 was finally amended to add a single discretionary exception to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. The amendment was clearly borrowed from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
Lawyer discipline
The State Bar is the only bar association that operates a State Bar Court. Under state law, the Bar has the option of proceeding against accused attorneys either in the Supreme Court of California or in the State Bar Court. Complaints of professional misconduct are usually first processed in the State Bar Court. If the lawyer disagrees with an adverse decision, he or she may appeal to the state supreme court.
References
External links
"State Bar of California"