| State Bar Court Referee (Pro Bono):
Investigation, Hearing and Review Departments - Referee, The State Bar Court, Review Department - appointed by the Board of Governors. The Review Department was an administrative appellate court with state-wide jurisdiction, sitting en banc monthly for two days, alternating between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The former Review Department in the 1980s had the power to review the Hearing Department's disposition of any lawyer discipline case, without the concurrence either of The State Bar or the respondent lawyer - including stipulated dispositions. Unlike most American appellate tribunals, the Review Department was allowed to re-determine the facts found below. Fifteen of the 18 referees were lawyers. The referees were appointed variously by the Governor of California, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, and The State Bar Board of Governors.
In the 1980s, the former Review Department considered every contested lawyer discipline disposition by the Hearing Department of The State Bar Court for the then 115,000 members of The State Bar of California. The Review Department also awarded compensation from The State Bar's Client Security Fund up to $75,000 per client, to clients who had been defrauded by dishonest acts of California lawyers. The Review Department disposed of a monthly calendar ranging between 50 and 75 discipline cases and claims against the Client Security Fund. Service as a Review Department referee required a monthly average of four to five days of appellate case preparation and attendance at the Department's hearings (1984 - 87).
- Referee, The State Bar Court, Hearing Department: trial of lawyer discipline cases (1981 - 83).
- Referee, The State Bar Court, Investigation Department: investigation of, and determination whether to charge, lawyer discipline offenses (1979 - 80).
- Member, Investigation Panel, District 7, The State Bar of California: investigation of, and determination whether to charge, lawyer discipline offenses (1977 - 78).
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