Report 2022-030 Recommendation 10 Responses

Report 2022-030: The State Bar of California's Attorney Discipline Process: Weak Policies Limit Its Ability to Protect the Public From Attorney Misconduct (Release Date: April 2022)

Recommendation #10 To: Bar of California, State

To increase the independence and objectivity of the external review of its case files, the State Bar should amend its policies by July 2022 to require its external reviewer to select the cases for the semiannual review.

6-Month Agency Response

As of July 18, 2022, OCTC revised its policy directive regarding the semi-annual random audit of closed cases to provide that the external auditor, rather than OCTC, shall randomly select the cases for review with the assistance of the Office of Research and Institutional Accountability. As revised, the relevant portion of the policy now states: "Twice each year, the retained external auditor, with the assistance of ORIA, will randomly select at least 290 files that have been closed during the six months to which the audit pertains (either March 1 through August 31, or September 1 through the end of February)." See supporting document: OCTC Policy Directive 2022-01, revised July 18, 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

Staff are currently revising these policies and procedures.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2022-030

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.