More lawyers suspended for failing to comply with trust account rules

An additional 212 California attorneys have been placed on administrative suspension after missing an extended Sept. 29 deadline to submit forms related to the State Bar’s Client Trust Account Protection Program, bar spokesperson Rick Coca said in an email Friday.

This is the second batch of suspensions the bar issued this year as it relates to client trust noncompliance, which brings its total to 1,415 inactive licensees, Coca said.

The first deadline on June 30 saw approximately 1,700 attorney suspensions following noncompliance with the program, which requires attorneys to report basic account information, complete an annual self-assessment, and certify for compliance with ethics rules related to safeguarding client funds, according to the bar’s website.

1,203 attorneys from the first batch of suspensions did not respond to either deadline, while the second group consists of those who started their filing but didn’t finish, Coca said.

Coca suggested many of these suspensions may be due to attorneys who have died and the bar was never given notice.

Steven J. Moawad, the bar’s special counsel who oversees the program, has said in the past that some attorneys may decline to report out of fear of being caught for theft.

The program, which was released last December, was created by the bar board’s Committee on Special Discipline Case Audit as a response to the embezzlement scandal with now disbarred and federally indicted plaintiffs’ attorney Thomas V. Girardi, who is accused of stealing millions of dollars from clients.

The agency has been under heavy scrutiny over the past two years for failing to act on more than 200 complaints against Girardi for over 40 years.

Beginning next year, the reporting deadline for the program will be Feb. 1, pursuant to Rules of the State Bar, Rule 2.5.

The bar’s website states later phases of the program will include further requirements such as random compliance reviews and audits by certified public accountants and expanded education and public outreach on the rights of clients and attorney responsibilities.