California Bar Finds New General Counsel in LA Health Care

The California Bar has tapped Ellin Davtyan as chief legal officer for the organization charged with overseeing more than quarter million lawyers in the state, the agency said Monday.

Davtyan is senior associate general counsel at L.A. Care Health Plan, the health safety net system serving more than 2.5 million members in Los Angeles County. The bar, in a statement, touted her experience as legal adviser and manager at a large, complex public institution with a diverse constituency.

Davtyan “will move from the nation’s largest public health plan to the nation’s largest State Bar,” Bar Board of Trustees Chairman Ruben Duran said in the statement. She’s set to start Aug. 18.

Duran was on the bar’s search committee formed in February when current GC Vanessa Holton announced her retirement after seven years. The bar used Bob Murray & Associates, the search firm that helped hire Executive Director Leah Wilson in June 2021 and newly confirmed Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona.

Davtyan’s appointment follows yet another blistering State Auditor’s report released in the spring that found California’s system for overseeing the legal profession failed to adequately investigate attorneys “despite lengthy patterns of complaints against them.” The bar conceded that its failings provided cover for Thomas Girardi , the famed lawyer accused of misappropriating millions of dollars in client funds, who has since been disbarred.

The bar is also defending itself in court against allegations it failed to safeguard online attorney and client complaint data. The proposed class action alleges some 322,500 confidential complaint and attorney discipline records were released in a data leak between October 2021 and February 2022.

California has 285,621 attorneys, including 195,553 active lawyers and 16,649 ineligible to practice law, bar figures show. The general counsel leads a staff of 20 and provides legal analysis on laws and proposed legislation, advice on contracts and labor relations, and representation in courts and administrative agencies. The GC represents the bar in discipline and admission cases before the California Supreme Court.