The State Bar published its 2023 digital annual report today, which focuses on its accomplishments and challenges in a year when budgetary and staffing constraints impacted operations and when transparency and accountability took center stage.
“2023 was a remarkable, challenging, and transformative year for the State Bar,” said Leah Wilson, Executive Director. “Despite our ongoing funding limitations, we initiated and published a series of reports related to the Girardi scandal and took substantive actions to reform Board of Trustees and organizational governance to strengthen ethics and conflicts of interest practices. In addition, we meaningfully improved the system for regulating attorneys by implementing proactive monitoring of client trust accounts for the first time in our history.”
The report features three “State Bar Stories,” short videos that highlight how the State Bar impacts lives.
Among the facts highlighted in the report are these:
Total number of attorneys licensed: 271,497
New attorneys admitted: 5,315
Legal aid funds distributed: a record $149.6 million
Victims reimbursed through the Client Security Fund: 438
Complaints about attorney misconduct and unauthorized practice of law handled: 17,360
Bar exam applicants tested: 12,036
Attorneys disciplined: 198 (FY)
Nonattorney practice cases referred to law enforcement: 300
Customer service calls handled: More than 92,000
Sections of the report on attorney regulation and discipline, transparency and accountability, access, diversity and inclusion, and admissions highlight numerous accomplishments, metrics, and initiatives undertaken or completed in 2023.
Original source can be found here.