State Bar Of California

Maverick lawyer Stephen Yagman, who specializes in police brutality and civil rights lawsuits, will be barred from practicing law in California for a year under an order issued Wednesday by the California Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, meeting in closed session, let stand a ruling by the State Bar of California that Yagman should be suspended from the bar for collecting an "unconscionable" fee in a case against the Los Angeles Police Department.

Eben Gossage, 43, wants to become a lawyer. He passed the bar exam on his first try. His friends and business associates agree he has a keen mind, dogged persistence and integrity. A handful of elected city officials, including a state senator and the district attorney, are supporting his quest. But the earnest, clean-cut Gossage has a past, a terrible past.

County bar officers in Riverside are struggling to cope with charges of professional misconduct against attorney Carole Gearhart. Her alleged abandonment of clients in bankruptcy cases may have led to one of them losing her home. The State Bar of California has told Riverside that budgetary cutbacks have left it unable to act on Gearhart's case. In Los Angeles, 75 of the 624 clients of attorney Thomas V. Girardi in the Lockheed toxic pollution cases have sent complaints to the bar and Gov.

County bar officers in Riverside are struggling to cope with charges of professional misconduct against attorney Carole Gearhart. Her alleged abandonment of clients in bankruptcy cases may have led to one of them losing her home. The State Bar of California has told Riverside that budgetary cutbacks have left it unable to act on Gearhart's case. In Los Angeles, 75 of the 624 clients of attorney Thomas V. Girardi in the Lockheed toxic pollution cases have sent complaints to the bar and Gov.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a request by the beleaguered State Bar of California for an emergency order that would have provided money to keep the regulatory agency for lawyers afloat. The 71-year-old agency is preparing to lay off about 80% of its staff Friday, a move made necessary by Gov. Pete Wilson's veto last year of a bill that authorized the bar to continue collecting $458 in yearly dues from each of the state's 130,000 practicing lawyers.

The State Bar of California, which regulates and disciplines the state's lawyers, will lay off most of its staff and dismantle the bulk of its operations Friday unless the California Supreme Court intervenes immediately to find the agency a new source of money--a prospect that officials concede is unlikely. The near-shutdown of the 71-year-old agency was made necessary by Gov. Pete Wilson's veto last year of a bill to provide continued funds for the bar.

Gov. Pete Wilson, whose veto last fall has brought the State Bar to the brink of bankruptcy, proposed letting it survive Friday but ending lawyers' self-regulation by having his successor appoint their leaders. Joined by the Legislature's leading opponents of the bar, Wilson endorsed a plan that would drastically reduce lawyers' dues and change their governance from a board elected mostly by lawyers to one appointed by the next governor and legislators.

The State Bar on Wednesday stopped accepting most new complaints from the public against unscrupulous lawyers, saying that its standoff with Gov. Pete Wilson over bar dues had left the organization practically broke. "We have, in essence, lost 90% of our funding," forcing the suspension of the service, said the bar's chief prosecutor, Judy Johnson. Only complaints that could lead to disbarment or serious suspension would be flagged for further investigation, she said.

The State Bar of California, fast running out of money, has sent layoff notices to nearly 500 employees, more than three-quarters of its work force. Most of the layoffs will become effective June 26 if a stalemate over the bar's funds is not resolved first; other layoffs are effective July 10. The agency also is on the verge of shutting down its consumer complaint hotline and will not process new cases, Executive Director Steve Nissen announced Monday.

The State Bar of California, a 71-year-old agency that licenses and disciplines lawyers, faces diminution and perhaps even demise for incurring the rancor of Gov. Pete Wilson. Angered by some of the bar's liberal stances and mindful of anti-lawyer public sentiment, Wilson in October vetoed a bill that authorized the bar to collect the bulk of the annual dues that it gathers from the state's 128,000 practicing attorneys.