One of the Supreme Court’s many non-case-related jobs is to regulate the legal profession. The Legislature recently adjourned without authorizing the State Bar to collect dues for 2017. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye was involved in the legislative negotiations, as she has been in the past. Because the Legislature did not pass a dues bill, the Chief Justice yesterday sent a letter — on behalf of the Supreme Court — to the State Bar directing the Bar “to submit a request to the court for an interim Special Regulatory Assessment to fund the Bar’s discipline system until such time as legislation is enacted that provides for its funding.” The letter states that, “in the absence of annual dues legislation, the Supreme Court has the inherent power as well as the responsibility to impose an interim regulatory fee upon attorneys for the purpose of supporting an adequate, functioning attorney discipline system that protects clients and the public.”
Cheryl Miller reports in The Recorder [subscription] that the letter “preempts a state bar meeting Monday where trustees were scheduled to discuss a dues-order petition to the high court.”
The Chief Justice’s letter also voices the court’s support for “certain public protection and governance reforms” that were included in the bills the Legislature did not pass and that “required no enabling legislation.” It additionally states that the court “strongly encourages Bar leadership to adopt other good government and public protection reforms.”