SAN FRANCISCO (Northern California Record) — San Rafael attorney Barbara Truman Zorr faces possible disbarment by default following a recently announced California State Bar Court recommendation for allegedly failing to comply with terms of a previous probation.
Zorr allegedly failed to file a timely declaration of compliance, contact the probation office to schedule a required meeting and to submit quarterly reports, according to the eight-page decision and order of involuntary inactive enrollment issued Nov. 21 by the state bar court.
In addition to her disbarment, the state bar court also recommended Zorr be ordered to pay all costs in the matter.
The state bar's recommendation is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time in which parties can request further review within the state bar court. Zorr's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed by the state bar court's hearing department for November.
Zorr failed to participate in person or via counsel and state bar's decision and order for disbarment was entered by default. In such cases, in which an attorney fails to participate in a State Bar of California disciplinary proceeding despite adequate notice and opportunity, the bar invokes Rule 5.85, which provides the procedure for the state bar to recommend an attorney's disbarment.
The state bar's entry for default was entered in May. That same month the state bar court ordered Zorr involuntarily enrolled as inactive.
Zorr was admitted to the bar in California on Dec. 22, 1983, according to her profile at the state bar website. No other disciplinary matters are pending against Zorr, and no payments have been made by the state bar's client security fund over her alleged misconduct.
In July 2017, Zorr, then 68, was suspended for 90 days and placed on two years' probation after she stipulated to having falsely reported to be in compliance with the minimum continuing legal education requirements, according to information on her state bar profile. Zorr faced a one-year suspension if she failed to comply with probation conditions.
In a previous discipline in July 1996, Zorr, then 47, received a stayed six-month suspension and two years' probation with 60-days of actual suspension after she stipulated to misconduct in two cases.