New formula to assess discipline costs, collect additional fees

Attorneys disciplined in the future will be assessed costs according to a revised formula which has been updated to reflect the bar’s current expenses.

The new formula will apply only to cases filed in State Bar Court following the board of governors’ approval of the measure at its meeting last month.

Before recommending the new cost-recovery formula, a special task force conducted an extensive review of the bar’s cost-recovery procedures. Included in the group’s final report was an exhaustive statistical study undertaken by a distinguished firm of financial analysts.

The revisions expand the bar’s ability to recover disciplinary costs, in addition to updating the cost-assessment formula.

The board also voted to seek changes in statutes which authorize the bar to collect disciplinary costs. The proposed changes would allow the bar to collect costs in private reproval cases, permit both sides to collect expert witness costs, and require that costs be paid as a condition for applying for reinstatement.

In related discipline matters, the board decided to begin expunging certain closed, confidential complaints against attorneys after specified periods of time. Fairness to attorneys named in the complaints and the cost savings of purging old records were two key reasons cited. The new procedures will not apply to attorneys who have been disciplined or disbarred, or who have resigned with charges pending.