State Bar report: Racial disparities in attorney discipline narrowing

Over the past five years, probation and disbarment gaps between Black and white attorneys have significantly declined, reaching near parity, a California Bar report found.

While factors like complaint volume, prior discipline history, and legal representation continue to influence outcomes, their impact on disparities has lessened compared to 2019, when the State Bar began to track the data, the Board of Trustees concluded at its meeting last week.

"We have made remarkable progress in reducing discipline disparities in a relatively short time," said Board Chair Brandon Stallings.

The updated data builds on the 2019 Farkas Report conducted by Professor George Farkas from UC Irvine School of Law that analyzed data from over 116,000 attorneys admitted between 1990 and 2009. The findings revealed that Black male attorneys faced higher rates of probation and disbarment compared to their white male counterparts.
The updated research found that since the initial Farkus report, probation and disbarment gaps between Black and white attorneys have significantly declined, reaching near parity. Hispanic/Latino attorneys now face lower disbarment rates than white attorneys, though slight disparities remain in probation outcomes.