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Consumer Protection Policy Center

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The CPPC team in a meeting

State Bar Reform

CPPC professional staff and student interns have attended the State Bar of California’s meetings and followed its activities for over 35 years. From 1987 to 1992, CPPC’s Executive Director Robert C. Fellmeth served as the State Bar Discipline Monitor (under then-Business and Professions Code section 6086.9), under appointment by then-Attorney General John Van de Kamp, with CPPC serving as the Monitor’s staff. The State Bar Discipline Monitor position was created by the Legislature and — over the course of almost five years—CPPC wrote eleven reports on the operation of the State Bar’s discipline system. CPPC worked with Senator Robert Presley and a succession of State Bar Presidents to fashion some 40 reforms of the system, including the passage of Senate Bill 1498 (Presley), 1988 legislation creating the current independent State Bar Court.

CPPC participated actively in the proceedings and deliberations of the 2010 Governance in the Public Interest Task Force, whose work culminated in the Legislature’s passage of SB 163 (Evans) (Chapter 417, Statutes of 2011). And CPPC was equally involved in the more recent Governance in the Public Interest Task Force proceedings in 2015-2017.

Many of the reforms CPPC has advocated for over the years have become a reality with the Legislature’s passage of SB 36 (Jackson) (Chapter 422, Statutes of 2017), resulting in a “deunified” bar, and a Board of Trustees now entirely focused on regulating the profession and protecting the public. CPPC continues to strongly advocate for increased transparency and accountability at the Bar so that the Bar may succeed in its core mission of protecting the public from unethical and incompetent attorneys in California.

CPPC’s efforts to reform the State Bar include:

California Bar Exam Reform

State Bar Governance Reform

Advocating for Transparency

  • March 25, 2024 - CPPC Letter in Support of SB 1476 (Blakespear), require the Bar to maintain conflict of interest codes in compliance with the Political Reform Act of 1974
  • November 5, 2015 - Julie Fellmeth Quoted in Daily Journal Article on New Transparency Measures for State Bar
  • October 9, 2015 - Gov. Brown Signs Senate Bill 387: CPIL Succeeds In Imposing Transparency Requirements on State Bar of California
  • September 11, 2015 - Ed Howard Quoted in Courthouse News Article Regarding Senate-Approved State Bar Transparency Bill
  • September 3, 2015 - Bob Fellmeth Quoted in SF Chronicle Editorial on New Transparency Rules for CA Bar
  • September 1, 2015 - Julie Fellmeth Weighs In On New Amendments in State Bar's Annual Dues Bill in Sac Biz Journal
  • July 14, 2015 - Ed Howard Quoted in Recorder Article on Measures to Improve State Bar of California
  • July 13, 2015 - Robert C. Fellmeth Featured in Daily Journal Article Regarding His Recommendations to Improve State Bar

Disciplinary Reform

  • July 9, 2018 - Testimony of Robert C. Fellmeth - Assuring Compensation for Consumers Damaged by Legal Malpractice: Why, What, and How
  • August 10, 2017 - Robert C. Fellmeth Quoted in the Los Angeles Daily Journal Article on State Bar Promoted Attorney Accused of Misleading
  • July 14, 2017 – Bridget Gramme Quoted in Daily Journal Article on State Bar's Contract to Receive Alerts on Attorney’s Arrests
  • July 10, 2017 - Robert C. Fellmeth Quoted in Daily Journal Article on State Bar's New Contract to Receive Alerts on Attorney’s Arrests
  • May 31, 2017 - Robert C. Fellmeth Quoted in Daily Journal Article on State Bar to be notified of Attorney’s Arrests
  • August 31, 2015 - CPIL Featured in Sacramento Bee Editorial on Their Suggestions to the Legislature Regarding State Bar
  • August 28, 2015 – Robert and Julie Fellmeth Quoted in Sac Biz Journal Story on State Bar's Handling of Disciplinary Cases

Legal Profession Reform

Attorney Ethics & Unenforceable Contracts

Additional Reform Efforts

In 2021, CPIL changed its name to the Consumer Protection Policy Center (CPPC) at the Centers for Public Interest Law (CPIL).