Report 2015-030 Recommendation 6 Responses

Report 2015-030: State Bar of California: It Has Not Consistently Protected the Public Through Its Attorney Discipline Process and Lacks Accountability (Release Date: June 2015)

Recommendation #6 To: Bar of California, State

To align its staffing with its mission, the State Bar should engage in workforce planning for its discipline system. The workforce planning should include the development and formal adoption of an appropriate backlog goal, an assessment of the staffing needed to achieve that goal while ensuring that the discipline process is not compromised, and the creation of policies and procedures sufficient to provide adequate guidance to the staff of each unit within the discipline system.

1-Year Agency Response

See May 10, 2016 Workforce Planning Report and May 13, 2016, State Bar Backlog Report.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

The State Bar contracted with the National Center for State Courts to conduct workforce planning. The report, issued in May 2016, is extensive and contains numerous recommendations to streamline and improve the State Bar's discipline process. In addition, the State Bar developed a backlog report, which contains an estimate of how many staff the State Bar will need to meet backlog targets.

6-Month Agency Response

Workforce Planning proposals submitted pursuant to competitive solicitation on December 14, 2015, are now being reviewed. A vendor will be selected by January 8, 2016. The solicitation can be found at: http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/rfp/2015/2015_RFP-WorkforcePlanning.pdf

In addition, a working group comprised of representative staff from the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel has been established to begin developing a recommended backlog goal. That group had its first meeting on December 17, 2015, and will meet again the first week of January, with the goal of having a viable and vetted recommendation developed in conjunction with the initial work of the workforce planning consultant.

Pursuant to statutory directive, this Recommendation will be fully completed by May 15, 2016.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The request for proposals procedure required by Business and Professions Code section 6008.6 begins this month. In working with the Legislature, the recommendation has been added to Senate Bill No. 387, which includes a deadline, has been set for the State Bar to submit a report on its workforce plan to the Legislature by May 15, 2016.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2015-030

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.