An Irvine attorney accused of targeting hundreds of distressed homeowners became the first California lawyer arrested for illicit loan modification activities when he was charged with more than 100 felonies last month.
Following the final publication of the print version of the California Bar Journal last month, our inaugural electronic issue was e-mailed March 1 to every California lawyer who has supplied an e-mail address to the State Bar.
California lawyers were required to pay their State Bar dues by March 1, but a board of governors committee voted last month that penalties for nonpayment would not attach until March 31. Penalties for noncompliance with MCLE requirements also will not take effect until the same date.
A former State Bar employee was sentenced to 32 months in state prison last month after she admitted embezzling more than $600,000 from the agency. Sharon Elyce Pearl, 52, pleaded no contest in December to one count of embezzlement and six counts of filing false tax returns.
A state Supreme Court committee is seeking qualified candidates to serve as State Bar Court review and hearing judges. Two hearing judge positions are open, one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles, and one part-time (60 percent) review judge position is open.
A former Santa Clara County deputy district attorney abused his office and violated the due process rights of several criminal defendants, a State Bar Court review panel ruled last month, and should therefore lose his law license for four years.
California’s courts may have shouldered more than their share of the state’s budget cutbacks, but the once-a-month closures must end, Chief Justice Ronald George said last month.