Report 2022-031 Recommendation 7 Responses
Report 2022-031: The State Bar of California: It Will Need a Mandatory Licensing Fee Increase in 2024 to Support Its Operations (Release Date: April 2023)
Recommendation #7 To: Bar of California, State
To ensure the impartiality of the processing of external disciplinary cases, the State Bar should, by October 2023, formalize the administrator's process for identifying her own and any external investigators' conflicts of interest related to these cases.
1-Year Agency Response
The State Bar has fully implemented this recommendation. The process for identifying the special deputy trial counsel's conflicts was formalized in a policy directive implemented in the spring of 2023, which implemented a uniform process for performing and documenting conflicts checks that are consistent with those completed in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel. A formal memorandum explaining the policy directive was sent to the State Bar Board of Trustees' discipline liaisons in November 2023.
- Completion Date: November 2023
- Response Date: April 2024
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented
6-Month Agency Response
The status of this recommendation has been updated to "not fully implemented" following communication between the State Bar, the independent SDTC administrator, and the State Auditor's office. The current Rule 2201 conflict of interest policy is under evaluation by the State Bar to ensure its thoughtfulness and consistency with other conflict of interest policies within the State Bar. The 2201 program's conflict checks will be formalized in a State Bar policy directive by December 2023.
- Estimated Completion Date: December 2023
- Response Date: October 2023
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
60-Day Agency Response
In April 2023, the Administrator issued an updated policy directive regarding conflict check procedures for the Administrator and individual Special Deputy Trial Counsels (SDTCs). The new directive closely mirrors the definitions of conflicts and the procedures for documenting conflict checks set by the Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) with some additional adjustments tailored for SDTCs who work in firm settings.
Consistent with OCTC policies and practices, conflict checks are conducted at multiple stages of a case, including at the time of assignment, before filing charges or reaching a settlement, and before closing. For the Administrator and SDTCs who use Odyssey, the conflict check is documented using the "SDTC Conflict Check" event in the system. However, for SDTCs working on files outside the Odyssey system, they complete a certification form that contains the same screening prompts as the event in the Odyssey system. The form is then returned to the Administrator and uploaded to the system to document the conflict check.
- Completion Date: April 2023
- Response Date: June 2023
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented
Although the Administrator issued an updated policy directive, the State Bar has not yet formalized this policy directive. Until it does so, we will assess the status of this recommendation as not fully implemented.
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
All Recommendations in 2022-031
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.