6040-6054
BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE
SECTION 6040-6054
6040. The board of governors may create local administrative
committees and delegate to them such of its powers and duties as
seems advisable. The board may in its discretion divide any committee
into units or sections with concurrent powers and duties in order to
handle the work of the committee more expeditiously. The board may
also prescribe the powers of the committee and the units or sections
thereof.
6041. A local administrative committee shall be composed of active
members of the State Bar.
6042. The members of local administrative committees, except
ex-officio members of the board of governors, shall hold office at
the pleasure of the board.
6043. Each local administrative committee shall:
(a) Receive and investigate complaints as to the conduct of
members.
(b) Make findings, whenever ordered by the board.
(c) Make recommendations and forward its report to the board for
action.
The board may:
(a) Act upon the report.
(b) Take additional evidence.
(c) Set aside the report and hear the whole case de novo.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, a local administrative committee,
its chairman, or a member of the staff of the State Bar, duly
authorized by the board, may, in its or his discretion, require the
filing of a verified accusation by a complainant stating specific
charges and specific facts, or may require specific evidence or facts
in support of the complaint, before proceeding with an investigation
or hearing, as may be provided in rules of procedure adopted by the
board.
6043.5. (a) Every person who reports to the State Bar or causes a
complaint to be filed with the State Bar that an attorney has engaged
in professional misconduct, knowing the report or complaint to be
false and malicious, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) The State Bar may, in its discretion, notify the appropriate
district attorney or city attorney that a person has filed what the
State Bar believes to be a false and malicious report or complaint
against an attorney and recommend prosecution of the person under
subdivision (a).
6044. The board or any committee appointed by the board, with or
without the filing or presentation of any complaint, may initiate and
conduct investigations of all matters affecting or relating to:
(a) The State Bar, or its affairs.
(b) The practice of the law.
(c) The discipline of the members of the State Bar.
(d) The acts or practices of a person whom the board or the
committee has reason to believe has violated or is about to violate
any provision of Articles 7 (commencing with Section 6125) and 9
(commencing with Section 6150) of this chapter.
(e) Any other matter within the jurisdiction of the State Bar.
6044.5. (a) When an investigation or formal proceeding concerns
alleged misconduct which may subject a member to criminal prosecution
for any felony, or any lesser crime committed during the course of
the practice of law, or in any manner that the client of the member
was a victim, or may subject the member to disciplinary charges in
another jurisdiction, the State Bar shall disclose, in confidence,
information not otherwise public under this chapter to the
appropriate agency responsible for criminal or disciplinary
enforcement or exchange that information with that agency.
(b) The Chief Trial Counsel or designee may disclose, in
confidence, information not otherwise public under this chapter as
follows:
(1) To government agencies responsible for enforcement of civil
and criminal laws or for professional licensing of individuals.
(2) To members of the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission or a
review committee thereof as to matters concerning nominees in any
jurisdiction.
6045. The local administrative committee shall perform such other
duties in furtherance of the execution of the provisions of this
chapter as the board may direct.
6046. The board may establish an examining committee having the
power:
(a) To examine all applicants for admission to practice law.
(b) To administer the requirements for admission to practice law.
(c) To certify to the Supreme Court for admission those applicants
who fulfill the requirements provided in this chapter.
The examining committee shall be comprised of 19 members, 10 of
whom shall be members of the State Bar or judges of courts of record
in this state and nine of whom shall be public members who have never
been members of the State Bar or admitted to practice before any
court in the United States. At least one of the attorney members
shall have been admitted to practice law in this state within three
years from the date of their appointment to the examining committee.
6046.5. Three of the public members of the examining committee
shall be appointed by the Senate Rules Committee, three of the public
members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, and three
of the public members shall be appointed by the Governor. They shall
serve for a term of four years, commencing at the conclusion of the
annual meeting of the State Bar, except that of the initial public
members so appointed, two shall serve for two years and four shall
serve for four years, as shall be determined by lot. The public
members appointed pursuant to the amendment of this section during
the 1987-88 Regular Session of the Legislature shall serve for four
years. The public members shall have the same rights, powers, and
privileges as any attorney member except that such a member shall not
participate in the drafting of questions submitted to applicants on
the California bar examination.
6046.6. (a) The examining committee shall not alter the bar
examination in a manner that requires the substantial modification of
the training or preparation required for passage of the examination,
except after giving two years' notice of that change. This
requirement does not apply to a change in the bar examination that is
applicable only at the option of the applicant.
(b) The examining committee shall communicate and cooperate with
the Law School Council.
(c) Scaling may be used on the bar examination for the purpose of
maintaining an examination of uniform difficulty from year to year.
6046.7. (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Committee of Bar Examiners shall adopt rules that shall be effective
on and after January 1, 2008, for the regulation and oversight of
unaccredited law schools that are required to be authorized to
operate as a business in California and to have an administrative
office in California, including correspondence schools, that are not
accredited by the American Bar Association or the Committee of Bar
Examiners, with the goal of ensuring consumer protection and a legal
education at an affordable cost.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the committee
shall adopt rules that shall be effective on and after January 1,
2008, for the regulation and oversight of nonlaw school legal
programs leading to a juris doctor (J.D.) degree, bachelor of laws
(LL.B.) degree, or other law study degree.
(b) Commencing January 1, 2008, the committee shall assess and
collect a fee from unaccredited law schools and legal programs in
nonlaw schools in an amount sufficient to fund the regulatory and
oversight responsibilities imposed by this section. Nothing in this
subdivision precludes the board of governors from using other funds
or fees collected by the State Bar or by the committee to supplement
the funding of the regulatory and oversight responsibilities imposed
by this section with other funds, if that supplemental funding is
deemed necessary and appropriate to mitigate some of the additional
costs of the regulation and oversight to facilitate the provision of
a legal education at an affordable cost.
6047. Subject to the approval of the board, the examining committee
may adopt such reasonable rules and regulations as may be necessary
or advisable for the purpose of making effective the qualifications
prescribed in Article 4.
6048. The board may also appoint one or more committees to take
evidence on behalf of the board and to forward the same to the board
with a recommendation for action by the board.
A record of all hearings shall be made and preserved by the board
or committee.
6049. (a) In the conduct of investigations and upon the trial and
hearing of all matters, the board and any committee having
jurisdiction, including the examining committee, may do all of the
following:
(1) Take and hear evidence pertaining to the proceeding.
(2) Administer oaths and affirmations.
(3) Compel, by subpoena, the attendance of witnesses and the
production of books, papers, and documents pertaining to the
proceeding.
(b) In the conduct of investigations, the chief trial counsel or
his or her designee, may compel, by subpoena, the attendance of
witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents
pertaining to the investigation.
(c) In the conduct of all formal proceedings, each party may
compel, by subpoena, the attendance of witnesses and the production
of books, papers, and documents pertaining to the proceeding.
6049.1. (a) In any disciplinary proceeding under this chapter, a
certified copy of a final order made by any court of record or any
body authorized by law or by rule of court to conduct disciplinary
proceedings against attorneys, of the United States or of any state
or territory of the United States or of the District of Columbia,
determining that a member of the State Bar committed professional
misconduct in such other jurisdiction shall be conclusive evidence
that the member is culpable of professional misconduct in this state,
subject only to the exceptions set forth in subdivision (b).
(b) The board may provide by rule for procedures for the conduct
of an expedited disciplinary proceeding against a member of the State
Bar upon receipt by the State Bar of a certified copy of a final
order determining that the member has been found culpable of
professional misconduct in a proceeding in another jurisdiction
conducted as specified in subdivision (a). The issues in the
expedited proceeding shall be limited to the following:
(1) The degree of discipline to impose.
(2) Whether, as a matter of law, the member's culpability
determined in the proceeding in the other jurisdiction would not
warrant the imposition of discipline in the State of California under
the laws or rules binding upon members of the State Bar at the time
the member committed misconduct in such other jurisdiction, as
determined by the proceedings specified in subdivision (a).
(3) Whether the proceedings of the other jurisdiction lacked
fundamental constitutional protection.
The member of the State Bar subject to the proceeding under this
section shall bear the burden of establishing that the issues in
paragraphs (2) and (3) do not warrant the imposition of discipline in
this state.
(c) In proceedings conducted under subdivision (b), the parties
need not be afforded an opportunity for discovery unless the State
Bar Court department or panel having jurisdiction so orders upon a
showing of good cause.
(d) In any proceedings conducted under this chapter, a duly
certified copy of any portion of the record of disciplinary
proceedings of another jurisdiction conducted as specified in
subdivision (a) may be received in evidence.
(e) This section shall not prohibit the institution of proceedings
under Section 6044, 6101, or 6102, as may be appropriate, concerning
any member of the State Bar based upon the member's conduct in
another jurisdiction, whether or not licensed as an attorney in the
other jurisdiction.
6049.2. In all disciplinary proceedings pursuant to this chapter,
the testimony of a witness given in a contested civil action or
special proceeding to which the person complained against is a party,
or in whose behalf the action or proceeding is prosecuted or
defended, may be received in evidence, so far as relevant and
material to the issues in the disciplinary proceedings, by means of a
duly authenticated transcript of such testimony and without proof of
the nonavailability of the witness; provided, the board or
administrative committee may order the production of and testimony by
such witness, in lieu of or in addition to receiving a transcript of
his testimony and may decline to receive in evidence any such
transcript of testimony, in whole or in part, when it appears that
the testimony was given under circumstances that did not require or
allow an opportunity for full cross examination.
6050. Whenever any person subpoenaed to appear and give testimony
or to produce books, papers or documents refuses to appear or testify
before the subpoenaing body, or to answer any pertinent or proper
questions, or to produce such books, papers or documents, he or she
is in contempt of the subpoenaing body.
6051. The chairman or presiding officer of the board or the
committee having jurisdiction or the chief trial counsel shall report
the fact that a person under subpoena is in contempt of the
subpoenaing body to the superior court in and for the county in which
the proceeding, investigation or other matter is being conducted and
thereupon the court may issue an attachment in the form usual in the
superior court, directed to the sheriff of the county, commanding
the sheriff to attach the person and immediately bring him or her
before the court.
On the return of the attachment, and the production of the person
attached, the superior court has jurisdiction of the matter, and the
person charged may purge himself or herself of the contempt in the
same way, and the same proceedings shall be had, and the same
penalties may be imposed, and the same punishment inflicted, as in
the case of a witness subpoenaed to appear and give evidence on the
trial of a civil cause before a superior court.
In lieu of the procedure specified above, the court may enter an
order directing the person alleged to be in contempt to appear before
the court at a specified time and place and then and there show
cause why he or she has not attended or testified or produced the
writings as required. A copy of the order shall be served upon that
person. If it appears to the court that the subpoena was regularly
issued and no good cause is shown for the refusal to appear or
testify or produce the writings, the court shall enter an order that
the person appear, testify, or produce writings, as the case may be.
Upon failure to obey the order, the person shall be dealt with as for
contempt of court.
A proceeding pursuant to this section shall be entitled "In the
Matter of (state name), Alleged Contemnor re State Bar (proceeding,
investigation or matter) No. (insert number)."
6051.1. A motion to quash a subpoena issued pursuant to Section
6049 shall be brought in the State Bar Court.
6052. Any member of the board, or of any committee or unit or
section thereof, having jurisdiction, or the chief trial counsel or
his or her designee may administer oaths and issue any subpoena
pursuant to Section 6049.
Depositions may be taken and used as provided in the rules of
procedure adopted by the board pursuant to this chapter.
6053. Whenever in an investigation or proceeding provided for or
authorized by this chapter, the mental or physical condition of the
member of the State Bar is a material issue, the board or the
committee having jurisdiction may order the member to be examined by
one or more physicians or psychiatrists designated by it. The reports
of such persons shall be made available to the member and the State
Bar and may be received in evidence in such investigation or
proceeding.
6054. State and local law enforcement and licensing bodies and
departments, officers and employees thereof, and officials and
attach