REMOVE "COMPLAINTS AGAINST ATTORNEYS DEPARTMENT" FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE BAR AND TURN IT OVER TO A PUBLIC LOTTERY TO OVERSEE ATTORNEY CONDUCT

REMOVE "COMPLAINTS AGAINST ATTORNEYS DEPARTMENT" FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE BAR AND TURN IT OVER TO A PUBLIC LOTTERY TO OVERSEE ATTORNEY CONDUCT

August 26, 2007

by D. Vanitzian, JD
(c) 2007 D. Vanitzian

When Governor Pete Wilson withdrew the California State Bar's funding, the first thing the Bar did was close down the "Consumer Complaints Against Attorneys" department. What does that tell you?! I am urging everyone who reads this to flood your legislators and DEMAND that the Consumer Complaints Against Attorneys Department at the California State Bar BE REMOVED and turned over to the general public. Keep sending those letters.

It appears that the California State Bar is protecting attorneys at any cost. Everything at the Bar is a big secret that is subsidized by taxpayer funds.

The California State Bar controls who will and who will not receive a license to practice law, they control the testing to obtain a license to practice law, they control the statutes governing what attorneys can and can't do, they determine the confidentiality of their procedures within the Bar, they determine what the public can and cannot obtain under the California Public Records Act AND the Freedom of Information Act, and they control so much more!

Go the the California Secretary of State website and look up the California State Bar. The Bar claims to have it both ways. They are a PRIVATE corporation registered with the Secretary of State's Department and they sport a ".gov" website address. So which is it? The California State Bar also has its own lobby group that the BAR funds. Govenment agencies cannot have and cannot fund a lobby group for its agency, it is a conflict of interest. So which is it? Is the California State Bar above the law? Or, does it OWN the law?

It has become evident that the California State Bar has way too much power and the consumers are suffering because of it. From what I've heard from consumers, the attorneys' fees keep going up and so few consumers feel like they are getting their money's worth. When law-abiding people TRUST attorneys with their trust funds, their paychecks, their life's savings, their lawsuits, and then are subject to "threats," and uncontrollable attorneys fees and being dumped in the middle of a trial, SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE PEOPLE! I don't use the word "threats" lightly. If you don't keep paying me I will stop representing you and the Bar will uphold this. I've had it said to me, and others have had it said to them, "sign this or we quit." THAT is a THREAT. Whether it is a retainer agreement or a settlement agreement, a threat is a threat is a threat. Well, not exactly. When you file a complaint at the California State Bar, they BELIEVE THE ATTORNEY over you. By then, that "threat" no longer exists and that attorney doesn't have a clue what you are talking about. Bar: So Mrs. Civilian, PROVE IT. The Complainant will never know if the attorney fabricated evidence to cover his/her ass; will never know what affidavits or declarations were fabricated to cover his/her ass; we'll simply never know because we do not get a chance to RESPOND to those lies or see them in print.

It is a scandalous state of affairs when sooooo many Californians have filed complaints with the State Bar only to receive variations on the same recycled form letters with the names of the perpetrators changed and a few tweaked facts to distinguish your letter from the masses. The goal of the California State Bar appears to be "move 'em on in and close 'em on out." It appears that the reason for the incompetence is very simple; it's all about numbers. See, we took in one million complaints and processed every single one of them. Date stamp. Made a "head's up phone call to the lawyer to warn of the complaint." Then sent the lawyer a letter. Then processed the lawyer's response. Then sent the customary F-U letter to the consumer. Never mind that the California State Bar's complaint process is wholly useless; it is subsidized by our taxpayer dollars. Taxpayers are not getting what we pay for in this arena. We are not only getting ripped off -- WE'RE PAYING TO GET RIPPED OFF AT BOTH ENDS. It is time for the public to speak LOUD and CLEAR.

The California State Bar policing its own, has been and is ineffective. The victim filing a complaint never knows what lies that perpetrator told in order to get off the hook. That's right, I have no problem using the word LIES in this context because there is reason to believe that is exactly what goes on. Attorneys need to do very little to justify their outrageous behavior and their billings and their incompetence and their failure to perform -- and the Bar knows it because they make the laws that protect attorneys, they also repeal laws that are adverse to attorneys. Most of the general public is unaware of this but if they knew it, they would change how they interact with attorneys while they are paying them. It would also change how the general public hires attorneys and law firms.

The California State Bar should not be policing its own attorneys -- there is something unethical about that. It doesn't pass the smell test. Think about it in these terms: A layperson writes a complaint in layman's language to the Bar against an attorney and/or law firm. That lawyer and/or law firm know every trick in the book how to get off the hook. The layperson is at a distinct disadvantage because of their lack of knowledge and expertise in how to phrase the complaint or how to explain the actual course of events -- let alone knowing that they can file a complaint. Their "ignorance" of the process and the law are the errant attorney's greatest tools to escape any charges of wrongdoing. The majority of complaints to the California State Bar are returned to sender with the "it’s a Civil matter" B.S. stamped all over it.

It isn't as if the California State Bar makes periodic house calls to that law firm to see what really goes on. It isn't as if the California State Bar sits in on these trials to watch these errant attorneys in action. It isn't as if the California State Bar pushes beyond that license-to-lie-cheat-and-steal otherwise called the "attorney client privilege." ALL the protections are biased against the consumer who gets screwed. There's simply no other word for it. The public has no meaningful statutory protections. The California State Bar does not give a damn and neither do our Legislators.

PLEASE write your Senators, Assemblypersons, Governor AND the California State Bar telling them you want the Complaint Department moved to a panel of randomly drawn individuals whose names are in a lottery. Make it a lottery as to who will judge these lawyers and let them get a dose of the REAL WORLD. They simply must be held accountable for their actions. Keep writing and sending those letters, don't stop.

PRINT THIS LETTER OUT BELOW; PUT YOUR NAME TO IT, AND KEEP SENDING IT - SEND IT OVER AND OVER AND OVER UNTIL OUR LEGISLATORS GET THE MESSAGE THAT WE'RE TIRED OF GETTING SCREWED OVER BY AN ELITEST GROUP OF SO-CALLED PROFESSIONALS.

The Honorable Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, California 95814

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

I believe that the California State Bar has stopped serving the public interest. Problems with attorneys and law firms keep getting worse. The ability of attorneys and law firms to take advantage of the public goes unchecked. There is no meaningful oversight. The malfeasance continues and gets more outrageous and the Bar is totally ineffective. I want the Legislature to remove attorney oversight and the consumer complaints against attorneys departments from the California State Bar and to grant said oversight to the public under a lottery system. Please give this your immediate attention. Thank you.


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