California State Bar Defense

When your law license, and your livelihood, are called into question, you need experienced counsel who know how to navigate the system and steer you back to safety.

Any California lawyer facing a California State Bar inquiry—whether related to bar admissions, such as a moral character inquiry or compliance request, or a discipline complaint—needs an experienced State Bar advocate.

Our State Bar Defense practice—including Admissions, Investigations, and Discipline defense—was designed from the ground up to give you exactly what you need in response to a State Bar inquiry or action.

Get the Right Counsel

State Bar inquiries take many forms.

For bar applicants or lawyers applying as Registered In-House Counsel (“RIHC”) or Foreign Legal Consultants (“FLC”), registration requirements and related moral character applications often raise detailed and important issues. While many of the issues flagged by the State Bar for further inquiry are not necessarily an impediment to eventual moral character approval, they must be handled with care by experienced lawyers who know what the State Bar moral character examiners are focused on and how issues should be properly addressed.

Our State Bar Defense team also has significant experience assisting out-of-state/foreign licensed lawyers and law firms, particularly when a lawyer is changing offices or locations, with structuring and timing their moves and related oversight to try and minimize State Bar concerns such as the unauthorized practice of law.

For experienced lawyers who are already admitted in California, ongoing compliance with frequently evolving rules (many of which are California-specific) can lead to uncertainty and related inquiries, such as trust accounting, advertising, solicitation, reporting requirements, or similarly complex issues. Our lawyers are here to help you resolve those issues.

State Bar inquiries can come from many different sources, all of which deserve appropriate attention. Maybe a discipline complaint has been lodged against you by a disgruntled client. Maybe one of your law firm competitors has complained. Maybe the State Bar has audited or responded to red flags in your trust accounting process.

Whatever its form or source, the effect of getting an inquiry from the State Bar is the same: it’s an existential risk to your license and livelihood. We treat every State Bar defense matter seriously. Your matter will have the attention of a dedicated and experienced State Bar defense lawyer from start to finish, who will bring varied and comprehensive experience and perspective to your side to help position your matter for the best possible chance of success. We understand that success means being able to put the matter behind you and move forward with your legal career.

Any State Bar investigation or action against your law license requires the immediate assistance of thorough and thoughtful counsel.

That’s where we come in.

Why We’re Different

We built our approach to State Bar defense around a lawyer’s interests, based on years of experience successfully responding to these issues for many clients.

We’re different for three reasons.

  • First, we appreciate that among the most critical aspects of any State Bar response are candor, accuracy, and completeness. This means that we analyze and assess these issues extensively at the outset of the representation, to minimize any surprises, for you or the State Bar. We invest these critical efforts upfront, to develop and present a full, accurate, and clear picture of the facts and your defenses. Our goal is to give the State Bar every tool it needs to dismiss an inquiry at the preliminary stages.
  • Second, since our practice is focused on counsel for California law firms and lawyers, so we bring to bear our considerable experience with the realities of law firm practice, risk management, and the practical application of California’s rules to each State Bar defense matter. This means your State Bar response will be placed in context—with a nuanced analysis of the applicable California rules and law as they relate to the focus of the State Bar’s inquiry and its duties. We can also anticipate additional questions or issues that could potentially be raised by the State Bar and address those at the onset so the process isn’t prolonged unnecessarily.
  • Third, our State Bar defense team has lawyers with multiple areas of focus and deep experience—including trial lawyers; legal ethics and risk management lawyers; and business lawyers. We draw on all these skills, as needed, to present your defenses effectively and persuasively. There is no one-dimensional response to these issues, and we have the skills and experience to cover every base.

If you have received a California State Bar inquiry, whether disciplinary or admissions-related, don’t wait to get help. Contact us to bring our skills and experience to your matter.