Documentary Production Begins!

We have started pre-production on a feature-length documentary about the California State Bar with a special focus on its history of abuse in recent years.  The stories that I have been hearing are appalling, and this documentary will be quite an eye-opener to lawyers and the public.  Attorneys in California have no idea what is really going on until they actually get caught in the system, and then it comes as a rude shock.  When Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the State Bar budget in the beginning of 2010 citing ethical problems with the State Bar, he barely scratched the surface.

We will starting filming interviews in December 2010. We have some fascinating interviews lined up, and are happy to hear from more people!  Contact me at calreform@yahoo.com if you are:

* A lawyer or former lawyer who has experienced the discipline system and feel that there were irregularities or injustices in your case.

* A former employee of the State Bar or State Bar Court, and you would like to be a whistleblower.

Although we would prefer that interviewees appear openly on camera, we can guarantee your privacy if you like.  Your image can be blocked and your voice altered to prevent identification if you are concerned about retaliation by the State Bar for appearing in this documentary.

We all need to speak up to change what many people have come to regard as one of the worst licensing and discipline systems in the country.

Contact me at calreform@yahoo.com if you, or anyone you know, has information to share that will help this goal.

 

Picket: Day 2

I did my second day of picketing yesterday in front of the State Bar headquarters in San Francisco.  Many people stopped to chat, and it has been very gratifying.

To be honest, when I started picketing two days earlier, I was half-expecting that people would look at me as a kook.  In fact, I started wondering myself if that wasn’t true.

What I received instead were many words of support, and story after story of State Bar abuse, not only from lawyers.  One person described a State Bar representative yelling and acting like a child over a business contract to which the State Bar was a party.  Another complained about a State Bar attitude of “my way or the highway” in regard to a non-discipline matter, and this is an attitude that many lawyers report about the prosecutors.  Several people used the word “corrupt” when talking about the State Bar, and one commented that the State Bar was “inmates running the asylum.” One supposedly “in the know” person said that the recent scandal of the State Bar employee who embezzled over $600,000 of State Bar funds “went deeper,” and that many people know this. These were all random unrelated individuals who happened to walk by at different times of the day.  I really don’t think that the State Bar realizes just how bad its public reputation really is.  In fact, I didn’t either until I stood in front of the headquarters with my sign and people came up to me.  Governor Schwarzenneger is not the only person to complain.

The goal of CDLR is not to expose or reform every bad thing about the State Bar, only the discipline process, but hearing all these things made me appreciate that the Bar has a serious problem with its internal culture that affects the discipline system.  These people really need to sit down with their critics and listen!

And I learned that I am not the first to picket there.  Apparently last autumn there were five or so people with megaphones marching in front of the building.

Some ideas are starting to formulate for the Legislation Project.  YOUR INPUT IS REQUESTED!  Please go to the tab “Legislation” and let me know your thoughts, positive or negative.  Some of the proposals are controversial, so let’s all talk and listen to each other.  You may post your comments, or email them privately to calreform@yahoo.com.  I think I will soon be ready to work with someone to draft and introduce legislation for an overhaul of the system.

My appreciation to everyone who has expressed support for this endeavor!

California Lawyers for Discipline Reform Public Launch

Public Launch Today. I publicly launched CLDR  today with a one-person picket outside of the State Bar headquarters in San Francisco.  Many people stopped to chat with me.  Some good questions were asked about discipline reform, and I cover those in the new FAQs page.

California Lawyers for Discipline Reform

California Lawyers for Discipline Reform (CLDR) is a coalition of lawyers, former lawyers, and concerned citizens seeking to replace California’s current attorney discipline system with a better and more efficient system through the legislative or ballot initiative process.

Our work is based on the recognition that California’s current system is harmful to the public and legal profession, and that efforts at internal reform have failed.

Our first projects are to survey the lawyer discipline systems in other states, and to create a video documentary detailing the problems and abuses of California’s present system.

We need your help!  Please contact us at calreform@yahoo.com if you can assist with any of the following:

*   Knowledge of successful attorney disicpline systems in other states.

*  If you are an attorney or former attorney who has gone through a discipline proceeding in California in the last five years.

*  You are a person who has filed a complaint against a lawyer with the California State Bar in the last five years.

*  You were formerly employed with California’s State Bar Court or Office of Chief Trial Counsel.

*  You can provide production or post-production assistance with the video documentary.

Your information will be kept confidential unless you give us written permission to release it.  We would like to get as many people as possible to tell us their stories.  Please email calreform@yahoo.com.