BILL NUMBER: SB 686 CHAPTERED 10/11/07 CHAPTER 474 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2007 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 11, 2007 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 6, 2007 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 4, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 17, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 13, 2007 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 15, 2007 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 2, 2007 INTRODUCED BY Senator Corbett FEBRUARY 23, 2007 An act to amend Sections 6002.1, 6071, 6079.1, 6086.65, 6126, and 6140 of, to add Article 4.8 (commencing with Section 6073) to Chapter 4 of Division 3 of, to add and repeal Section 6140.35 of, and to repeal Section 6140.3 of, the Business and Professions Code, relating to the practice of law. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 686, Corbett. State Bar Act. Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. Existing law requires the State Bar to charge an annual membership fee to active members of up to $315 for the year 2007. Existing law authorizes the Board of Governors of the State Bar to increase the annual membership fees by an additional amount not exceeding $10, to be used only for the costs of financing constructing, purchasing, or leasing facilities to house State Bar staff and for major capital improvement projects related to facilities owned by the State Bar, and requires the State Bar, at least 30 days prior to entering into an agreement for construction, purchase, or lease of a facility in San Francisco, to submit its preliminary plan and cost estimate for the facility to the Judiciary Committees of the Legislature for review. This bill would require the board to fix the annual membership fee for active members for 2008 at a sum not to exceed $315. The bill would delete the authorization for the board to increase the annual membership fees to be used for the costs of financing, constructing, purchasing, or leasing facilities for staff and major capital improvement projects. The bill would delete the requirement that the State Bar submit a preliminary plan and cost estimate for the construction, purchase, or lease of a facility in San Francisco to the Judiciary Committees. The bill would also, until January 1, 2011, authorize the board to increase the annual membership fee for active members by up to $10 in any year to be used for the costs of upgrading its information technology system, and would require the additional amount to be separately listed and described in the annual membership fee invoice, as specified. This bill would require the board, on or before January 10, 2008, to report to the Judiciary Committees, with a copy to the State Auditor, certain information relating to its strategic planning process, budget, funds, and auditing system. The bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to conform the State Bar Act to the renumbering of the California Rules of Court. Existing law provides that it is the duty of an attorney to, among other things, never reject, for any consideration personal to himself or herself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed. This bill would provide that a lawyer may fulfill his or her ethical commitment to provide pro bono services, in part, by providing financial support to organizations providing free legal services to persons of limited means. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 6002.1 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 6002.1. (a) A member of the State Bar shall maintain all of the following on the official membership records of the State Bar: (1) The member's current office address and telephone number or, if no office is maintained, the address to be used for State Bar purposes or purposes of the agency charged with attorney discipline. (2) All specialties in which the member is certified. (3) Any other jurisdictions in which the member is admitted and the dates of his or her admission. (4) The jurisdiction, and the nature and date of any discipline imposed by another jurisdiction, including the terms and conditions of any probation imposed, and, if suspended or disbarred in another jurisdiction, the date of any reinstatement in that jurisdiction. (5) Any other information as may be required by agreement with or by conditions of probation imposed by the agency charged with attorney discipline. A member shall notify the membership records office of the State Bar of any change in the information required by paragraphs (1), (4), and (5) within 30 days of any change and of the change in the information required by paragraphs (2) and (3) on or before the first day of February of each year. (b) Every former member of the State Bar who has been ordered by the Supreme Court to comply with Rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court shall maintain on the official membership records of the State Bar the former member's current address and within 10 days after any change therein, shall file a change of address with a membership records office of the State Bar until such time as the former member is no longer subject to the order. (c) The notice initiating a proceeding conducted under this chapter may be served upon the member or former member of the State Bar to whom it is directed by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the member or former member at the latest address shown on the official membership records of the State Bar. The service is complete at the time of the mailing but any prescribed period of notice and any right or duty to do any act or make any response within any prescribed period or on a date certain after the notice is served by mail shall be extended five days if the place of address is within the State of California, 10 days if the place of address is outside the State of California but within the United States, and 20 days if the place of address is outside the United States. A member of the State Bar or former member may waive the requirements of this subdivision and may, with the written consent of another member of the State Bar, designate that other member to receive service of any notice or papers in any proceeding conducted under this chapter. (d) The State Bar shall not make available to the general public the information specified in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) unless that information is required to be made available by a condition of probation. That information is, however, available to the State Bar, the Supreme Court, or the agency charged with attorney discipline. (e) The State Bar may develop a prescribed form for the making of reports required by this section, usage of which it may require by rule or regulation. SEC. 2. Section 6071 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 6071. (a) The State Bar shall request the California Supreme Court to amend Rule 9.31 of the California Rules of Court, relating to the mandatory continuing education program, to provide that one hour of the mandatory eight hours of legal education activities in legal ethics or law practice management, instead, may be satisfied by one hour of legal education activity in the civil and criminal remedies available for civil rights violations. (b) This section shall not affect the requirement that all active members of the State Bar complete at least four hours of legal education activity in ethics within designated 36-month periods. SEC. 3. Article 4.8 (commencing with Section 6073) is added to Chapter 4 of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code, to read: Article 4.8. Pro Bono Services 6073. It has been the tradition of those learned in the law and licensed to practice law in this state to provide voluntary pro bono legal services to those who cannot afford the help of a lawyer. Every lawyer authorized and privileged to practice law in California is expected to make a contribution. In some circumstances, it may not be feasible for a lawyer to directly provide pro bono services. In those circumstances, a lawyer may instead fulfill his or her individual pro bono ethical commitment, in part, by providing financial support to organizations providing free legal services to persons of limited means. In deciding to provide that financial support, the lawyer should, at minimum, approximate the value of the hours of pro bono legal service that he or she would otherwise have provided. In some circumstances, pro bono contributions may be measured collectively, as by a firm's aggregate pro bono activities or financial contributions. Lawyers also make invaluable contributions through their other voluntary public service activities that increase access to justice or improve the law and the legal system. In view of their expertise in areas that critically affect the lives and well-being of members of the public, lawyers are uniquely situated to provide invaluable assistance to benefit those who might otherwise be unable to assert or protect their interests and to support those legal organizations that advance these goals. SEC. 4. Section 6079.1 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 6079.1. (a) The Supreme Court shall appoint a presiding judge of the State Bar Court. In addition, five hearing judges shall be appointed, two by the Supreme Court, one by the Governor, one by the Senate Committee on Rules, and one by the Speaker of the Assembly, to efficiently decide any and all regulatory matters pending before the Hearing Department of the State Bar Court. The presiding judge and all other judges of that department shall be appointed for a term of six years and may be reappointed for additional six-year terms. Any judge appointed under this section shall be subject to admonition, censure, removal, or retirement by the Supreme Court upon the same grounds as provided for judges of courts of record of this state. (b) Judges of the State Bar Court appointed under this section shall not engage in the private practice of law. The State Bar Court shall be broadly representative of the ethnic, sexual, and racial diversity of the population of California and composed in accordance with Sections 11140 and 11141 of the Government Code. Each judge: (1) Shall have been a member of the State Bar for at least five years. (2) Shall not have any record of the imposition of discipline as an attorney in California or any other jurisdiction. (3) Shall meet any other requirements as may be established by subdivision (d) of Section 12011.5 of the Government Code. (c) Applicants for appointment or reappointment as a State Bar Court judge shall be screened by an applicant evaluation committee as directed by the Supreme Court. The committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, shall submit evaluations and recommendations to the appointing authority and the Supreme Court as provided in Rule 9.11 of the California Rules of Court, or as otherwise directed by the Supreme Court. The committee shall submit no fewer than three recommendations for each available position. (d) For judges appointed pursuant to this section or Section 6086.65, the board shall fix and pay reasonable compensation and expenses and provide adequate supporting staff and facilities. Hearing judges shall be paid 91.3225 percent of the salary of a superior court judge. The presiding judge shall be paid the same salary as a superior court judge. (e) From among the members of the State Bar or retired judges, the Supreme Court or the board may appoint pro tempore judges to decide matters in the Hearing Department of the State Bar Court when a judge of the State Bar Court is unavailable to serve without undue delay to the proceeding. Subject to modification by the Supreme Court, the board may set the qualifications, terms, and conditions of service for pro tempore judges and may, in its discretion, compensate some or all of them out of funds appropriated by the board for this purpose. (f) A judge or pro tempore judge appointed under this section shall hear every regulatory matter pending in the Hearing Department of the State Bar Court as to which the taking of testimony or offering of evidence at trial has not commenced, and when so assigned, shall sit as the sole adjudicator, except for rulings that are to be made by the presiding judge of the State Bar Court or referees of other departments of the State Bar Court. (g) Any judge or pro tempore judge of the State Bar Court as well as any employee of the State Bar assigned to the State Bar Court shall have the same immunity that attaches to judges in judicial proceedings in this state. Nothing in this subdivision limits or alters the immunities accorded the State Bar, its officers and employees, or any judge or referee of the State Bar Court as they existed prior to January 1, 1989. This subdivision does not constitute a change in, but is cumulative with, existing law. (h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the board from appointing persons to serve without compensation to arbitrate fee disputes under Article 13 (commencing with Section 6200) or to monitor the probation of a member of the State Bar, whether those appointed under Section 6079, as added by Chapter 1114 of the Statutes of 1986, serve in the State Bar Court or otherwise. SEC. 5. Section 6086.65 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 6086.65. (a) There is a Review Department of the State Bar Court, that consists of the Presiding Judge of the State Bar Court and two Review Department judges appointed by the Supreme Court. The judges of the Review Department shall be nominated, appointed, and subject to discipline as provided by subdivision (a) of Section 6079.1, shall be qualified as provided by subdivision (b) of Section 6079.1, and shall be compensated as provided for the presiding judge by subdivision (d) of Section 6079.1. However, the two Review Department judges may be appointed to, and paid as, positions occupying one-half the time and pay of the presiding judge. Candidates shall be rated and screened pursuant to Rule 9.11 of the California Rules of Court or as otherwise directed by the Supreme Court. (b) The Presiding Judge of the State Bar Court shall appoint an Executive Committee of the State Bar Court of no fewer than seven persons, including one person who has never been a member of the State Bar or admitted to practice law before any court in the United States. The Executive Committee may adopt rules of practice for the operation of the State Bar Court as provided in Section 6086.5. (c) Any decision or order reviewable by the Review Department and issued by a judge of the State Bar Court appointed pursuant to Section 6079.1 may be reviewed only upon timely request of a party to the proceeding and not on the Review Department's own motion. The standard to be applied by the Review Department in reviewing a decision, order, or ruling by a hearing judge fully disposing of a proceeding is established in Rule 9.12 of the California Rules of Court, or as otherwise directed by the Supreme Court. SEC. 6. Section 6126 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 6126. (a) Any person advertising or holding himself or herself out as practicing or entitled to practice law or otherwise practicing law who is not an active member of the State Bar, or otherwise authorized pursuant to statute or court rule to practice law in this state at the time of doing so, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in a county jail or by a fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment. Upon a second or subsequent conviction, the person shall be confined in a county jail for not less than 90 days, except in an unusual case where the interests of justice would be served by imposition of a lesser sentence or a fine. If the court imposes only a fine or a sentence of less than 90 days for a second or subsequent conviction under this subdivision, the court shall state the reasons for its sentencing choice on the record. (b) Any person who has been involuntarily enrolled as an inactive member of the State Bar, or has been suspended from membership from the State Bar, or has been disbarred, or has resigned from the State Bar with charges pending, and thereafter practices or attempts to practice law, advertises or holds himself or herself out as practicing or otherwise entitled to practice law, is guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail. However, any person who has been involuntarily enrolled as an inactive member of the State Bar pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 6007 and who knowingly thereafter practices or attempts to practice law, or advertises or holds himself or herself out as practicing or otherwise entitled to practice law, is guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail. (c) The willful failure of a member of the State Bar, or one who has resigned or been disbarred, to comply with an order of the Supreme Court to comply with Rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court, constitutes a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail. (d) The penalties provided in this section are cumulative to each other and to any other remedies or penalties provided by law. SEC. 7. Section 6140 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 6140. (a) The board shall fix the annual membership fee for active members for 2008 at a sum not exceeding three hundred fifteen dollars ($315). (b) The annual membership fee for active members is payable on or before the first day of February of each year. If the board finds it appropriate and feasible, it may provide by rule for payment of fees on an installment basis with interest, by credit card, or other means, and may charge members choosing any alternative method of payment an additional fee to defray costs incurred by that election. (c) On or before January 10, 2008, the board shall report to the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary, with a copy to the State Auditor, all of the following: (1) Whether the State Bar has fully completed and implemented its strategic planning process for all of the State Bar's departments, and, if completed and implemented, the result of the 2008 budgeting process methodology using the strategic plan. (2) A report on the status of the funds collected pursuant to Section 6140.3, as that section read on December 1, 2007, including the income paid into, and expenses paid out of, those funds for 2007, and the end-of-year balance for 2007. (3) Whether the State Bar is in full compliance with its checklist and auditing systems and the changes it has implemented to address concerns identified by the State Auditor that will ensure complete and efficient case processing of disciplinary matters. (4) The State Bar's plan to control Client Security Fund administrative expenses. (5) Whether the State Bar has fully complied with its administrative and monitoring responsibilities with respect to the Legal Services Trust Fund Program, including monitoring trust account reporting compliance. (d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2009, and, as of that date, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2009, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 8. Section 6140.3 of the Business and Professions Code is repealed. SEC. 9. Section 6140.35 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read: 6140.35. (a) The board may increase the annual membership fee fixed by Section 6140 by an additional amount not exceeding ten dollars ($10). This additional amount may be used only for the costs of upgrading the board's information technology system, including purchasing and maintenance costs and both computer hardware and software. This special assessment for information technology upgrades shall be separately listed and described in the annual membership fee invoice, which shall include notice of the repeal of this section on January 1, 2011. (b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2011, and, as of that date, is repealed.