Passage of Measure to Improve Discipline by State Bar Urged

Warning that the California legal profession is at a “crisis point” in efforts to purge itself of crooked lawyers, a state-appointed monitor called Friday for passage of legislation to provide $17 million for an overhaul of the State Bar’s backlogged disciplinary system.

Robert C. Fellmeth, a San Diego lawyer appointed by Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp to study ways of reducing the state’s backlog of complaints against lawyers, said the money is needed to process the cases of almost 1,000 lawyers charged with crimes “at the felony level” who are still practicing law because of delays in the imposition of State Bar discipline.

“We have attorneys being prosecuted for everything from burglary to fraud, even solicitation to cause great bodily harm to a witness, who are still practicing,” Fellmeth said. “We have about 300 now being criminally prosecuted for felony offenses and another 700 who have not been criminally charged because they just stole from their clients.”

Fellmeth made his comments in an interview with The Times after releasing the second in a series of reports ordered by the Legislature on efforts to reduce the backlog of disciplinary cases now before the 110,000-member State Bar, which has responsibility for imposing lawyer discipline under California law.

Passage Urged

In his report as monitor of the State Bar’s disciplinary system, Fellmeth urged passage of a bill by Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) that would provide an unprecedented $145 special enhancement in annual dues for all State Bar members to almost double the organization’s disciplinary budget from $18 million to $35 million.

“If the Bar does not obtain additional monies early in 1988, the discipline system will become a shambles,” Fellmeth said in his report. “Hundreds of attorneys who should be disciplined, including a substantial number warranting disbarment, will continue to practice for substantial periods unaffected by the Bar discipline system.”

Fellmeth was appointed to the 3-year monitoring post in 1987 after passage of an earlier bill by Presley that initially would have stripped the State Bar of its authority to discipline lawyers. Because of opposition from the legal profession, the Legislature decided instead to give the Bar time to improve its widely criticized disciplinary system.

One major proposed change in the current reform legislation would establish a force of 11 full-time hearing judges and three appellate judges to decide State Bar disciplinary cases. The salaried group would replace a volunteer force of up to 450 lawyers and part-time paid referees who currently hear such cases.

Double Output

“If this bill doesn’t go through and this money isn’t appropriated, then what we have is basically a farce,” Fellmeth said. “This will double the output of the system. We had about 110 lawyers disbarred last year. This would up that to perhaps 200 to 300 crooked lawyers a year.

“If the money is approved, they would be out of the profession in two years or so. If not, they will continue to practice for years to come.”

Fellmeth, who in an earlier report criticized past State Bar efforts to reform the disciplinary system, praised the Bar in Friday’s report for moving “progressively and constructively” toward a solution of the continuing backlog.

“They have done what they should have done years ago,” he said. “They have now faced the issue and asked the Legislature for what they need, and maybe even a tad more than what they need. Historically, there’s been a tendency not to do that.

“Everybody wanted to put on a happy face all the time. The happy face ultimately became a very false mask.”

Record Increase

Reacting to Fellmeth’s report, State Bar President P. Terry Anderlini said he is optimistic that the Legislature will approve the proposed record increase in State Bar dues, which would increase the annual payments of most lawyers to $470 from the current ceiling of $276. The increase would fund the discipline budget hike and cover other expenses.

“It’s a very dramatic proposal, and we were initially concerned that our membership would not support it,” Anderlini said. “But they realize the system is not working and something needs to be done for the protection of the public and the honor of the profession. No one wants to see any improperly run disciplinary system.”

Anderlini said some members of the Legislature have expressed reservations at the amount of money being requested for the State Bar revisions, adding he expects some compromises may be made while the bill is being considered.

“It was the Legislature that initiated this,” Anderlini said. “Now we have come around to accepting the notion that significant enhancements must be made.

“If they don’t fund it, we’ll have a problem in meeting our goals. I expect that ultimately, when they see where the money is going, they will agree to provide us with what is needed.”