Attorney discipline records short of disbarment would be expunged after 8 years under state bar plan

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Lawyer self-discipline information in need of disbarment could be expunged after 8 years below state bar plan

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 21, 2024, 9:00 am CST

The California Supreme Court docket is being requested to robotically expunge information of legal professional self-discipline aside from disbarment after eight years, supplied that there is no such thing as a additional self-discipline throughout that interval.

The State Bar of California’s board of trustees permitted the proposal Nov. 14 and despatched it to the state supreme court docket, in line with a Nov. 15 press launch. The board additionally directed workers to take away administrative suspensions from on-line legal professional profiles.

The adjustments stemmed from suggestions by the state bar’s Advert Hoc Fee on the Self-discipline System. The fee considered expungement as a strategy to tackle racial disparities in self-discipline and align the system with the practices of different regulatory companies, the press launch said.

A November 2019 examine discovered racial disparities in probationary self-discipline, disbarment and discipline-related resignation, with the best disparities between Black and white male attorneys.

Reuters and Law360 had protection of the expungement proposal.