State Bar Associations – Are they biased against America’s poor and powerless?
For decades, the bar associations of all 50 US states have boasted of their lofty goals of serving and protecting America’s poor and powerless. Recent statistics and case studies from the California State Bar Association, the nation’s largest legal group, indicate that this is not always the case.
Within a few years of its creation in 1927, members began to complain that the organization they had to join in order to practice their profession was “anti-American,” a “soviet of lawyers,” and secretly run by a “royal family.” Seventy years later, Governor Pete Wilson shut down the organization for nearly a year, calling it the “political animal supreme.” At the same time, the California State Legislature found evidence of “institutional bias” in the way the group disciplined its members.
Flip through some back issues of The California Lawyer magazine and see how many members who work for the state or federal government, large prestigious law firms, or are politically connected are sanctioned each year.
The disciplinary bias of the State Bar Association has reached such high levels that aggrieved lawyers and members of the public have blogged in an attempt to obtain the justice and dignity they feel they deserve.
In addition to the obvious politicization of bar association policies and procedures, other factors contribute to this national crisis. Governance for these attorney groups is often divided among a state’s governor, attorney general, and state legislative committees, as well as the president, officers, and board of governors of each group. Since the bar association’s disciplinary proceedings are confidential, none of these individuals can access the bar association’s records to make a fair assessment of whether the letters are against the lawyers representing those on the rungs. lower on the socioeconomic scale.
However, the advent of blogs and other online sites is beginning to shed light on the devastating effects state bar association bias has on the lives, health, and careers of lawyers, as well as on the public. in general. They also provide examples of longstanding fraud and failure that state bar association officials continue to ignore.
In a California case, an attorney with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights practiced for much of her career without paying the “active” bar owed. State Bar membership records listed her as “inactive” and ineligible to practice law. Although the California State Bar Association was the sole custodian of her membership records, it dismissed a complaint filed against the attorney for “lack of evidence.”
As the US economy continues to decline and become uncertain, it is imperative that state bar associations begin to open their doors and their books so government leaders, the media, and the general public can get the full picture. and fairness of disciplinary procedures and practices.
