State Bar Court of California
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The State Bar Court of California serves as the administrative arm of the
California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
in the adjudication of disciplinary and regulatory matters involving California attorneys. Although it is not formally a court of record, its judges are subject to admonition, censure, removal, or retirement by the Supreme Court upon the same grounds as provided for judges of courts of record in the state of California. The Court holds adversarial hearings between attorneys accused of misconduct and the Office of Chief Trial Counsel of the
California State Bar The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...
.


Background and Composition

The State Bar Court judges are nominated by a variety of individuals and bodies. Two of its five hearing judges are appointed by the California Supreme Court, and the remaining three are each selected by the
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, Speaker of the Assembly and Senate Committee on Rules in turn; these judges constitute the Hearing Department, which is the trial level of the State Bar Court. The State Bar Court's appellate division, the Review Department, consists of two review judges and a presiding judge that are selected by the Supreme Court.


Jurisdiction

The State Bar Court has jurisdiction over all attorney discipline matters in the State of California. The Court may discipline attorneys by public or private reproval and recommend a suspension of no more than three years for violations of the California Rules of Professional Conduct. In addition, where the State Bar Court is adjudicating attorney conduct which would warrant punitive action pursuant to the
California Business and Professions Code California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, it may further make recommendations to the Supreme Court for a longer suspension,
disbarment Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal con ...
, or other discipline; however, it has no authority to impose such discipline on its own, and the 'first and only' decision imposing discipline is issued by the Supreme Court.''In re Rose'
22 Cal. 4th 430
(2000) (" e State Bar ourtmay make only recommendations to this court, which undertakes an independent determination whether the attorney should be disciplined as recommended."
It may also impose emergency suspensions when there is a substantial risk of harm to the public by an attorney's actions.


References

{{Reflist California_law Administrative courts