Report 2017-030 Recommendation 17 Responses
Report 2017-030: The State Bar of California: It Needs Additional Revisions to Its Expense Policies to Ensure That It Uses Funds Prudently (Release Date: June 2017)
Recommendation #17 To: Bar of California, State
To better measure how well its attorney discipline program is meeting the State Bar's core mission to protect the public from attorney misconduct, the State Bar should, by December 2017, identify key goals and metrics for the attorney discipline system.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2019
The State Bar has adopted detailed metrics for all operational areas, including the discipline system. The Executive Director's report to the Board of Trustees at each meeting includes a Metrics Report. The January Metrics Report, presented at the March 2019 meeting of the Board of Trustees, has been provided to the California State Auditor.
- Completion Date: March 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018
The Board of Trustees approved discipline metrics at its meeting on September 14, 2018. Supporting documentation has been provided.
- Completion Date: September 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Although the State Bar provided its attorney discipline goals for operational areas that are involved directly in processing discipline cases, it indicated that it still needs to evaluate data and propose standards for benchmarks.
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018
The Board of Trustees approved discipline metrics at its meeting on September 14, 2018.
- Completion Date: September 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Although the State Bar provided its attorney discipline goals for operational areas that are involved directly in processing discipline cases, it indicated that it still needs to evaluate data and propose standards for benchmarks.
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
1-Year Agency Response
The State Bar has undertaken the following activities related to developing goals and metrics for the attorney discipline system:
-Pilot tested client satisfaction/procedural justice measures; working to improve response rate and develop similar measures for respondent attorneys;
-Identified metrics for Office of the Chief Trial Counsel, State Bar Court, Office of Probation, Lawyer Assistance Program, and Client Security Fund;
-Working on data extraction, transformation and loading to produce reports on identified metrics;
-Working on changing State Bar rules to facilitate data sharing among State Bar divisions.
- Estimated Completion Date: Fall 2018
- Response Date: June 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
6-Month Agency Response
State Bar staff is working with the Board of Trustees' Committee on Regulation and Discipline to develop key goals and metrics for the attorney discipline system.
- Estimated Completion Date: May 2018
- Response Date: December 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
We look forward to the State Bar providing a more complete description of its actions to implement our recommendations, as well as evidence of those actions, at its one-year response in June 2018.
60-Day Agency Response
State Bar staff is working with the Board of Trustees' Committee on Regulation and Discipline to develop key goals and metrics for the attorney discipline system.
- Estimated Completion Date: December 31, 2017
- Response Date: August 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2017-030
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.