California Bar Willing to Reveal Redacted Names in Girardi Probe

The California State Bar said Monday that it’s willing to make public the names of two of its former employees in connection with the investigation into disbarred attorney Thomas Girardi, provided they give it permission to do so, in settlement of a Los Angeles Times lawsuit.

The accord, which itself is subject to California Supreme Court approval, would end the paper’s lawsuit seeking public disclosure of documents related to the disciplinary probe of the once-celebrated plaintiffs’ attorney.

The bar will also pay the newspaper $138,000, in partial reimbursement of its attorneys’ fees.

The LA Times’ suit argued that without information about how the agency handled, or mishandled, years of complaints about the twice-indicted lawyer, “the public cannot hold the Bar accountable, and will be stymied in any attempt to evaluate the ‘reforms’ that the Bar publicly has touted in the wake of the Girardi scandal.”

The names of two former bar attorneys were redacted from an independent report on the agency’s conduct in the decades-long affair during which Girardi eluded punishment even as more than 100 complaints were lodged against him.

The report concluded bar insiders failed to adequately divulge their close relationships, as well as gifts they received from Girardi as part of their conflicts-of-interest disclosures.

The agency under the settlement will attempt to contact the two individuals within two weeks of the agreement’s full execution to seek permission to publicly release their names. After a 30-day response period, bar will tell the Times’ about their response. “If the State Bar receives permission from either individual within 30 days of making the request, the State Bar will update its public disclosure to identify” the individuals.

The newspaper agreed not to seek release of a fully unredacted version of a second report on the bar’s conduct in investigating Girardi.

“The information that The Times succeeded in getting the State Bar to reveal, and the changes in its practices as a result, were significant,” Kelli L. Sager, a Davis Wright Tremaine LLP partner representing the paper, said via email. “And the Bar’s willingness to reimburse The Times for a substantial part of the fees incurred in this lawsuit made this an important win for transparency.”

Ellin Davtyan, bar general counsel, in a statement said the agreement “reflects the State Bar’s evolved interpretation of the statute governing the discretionary release of confidential disciplinary case information, as well as the State Bar’s commitment to transparency and accountability.”

Disbarred Amid Charges

The bar will also begin the rule-making process to modify its procedures to reflect the previously announced change in how it will make public closed files under California Business and Professions Code Section 6086(1)(b)(2).

The settlement comes a year after Girardi was disbarred on charges of stealing from clients.

Girardi was indicted in Los Angeles and Chicago federal courts earlier this year on charges he stole millions of dollars in fund due clients and other counsel. The attorney, who now lives in a memory care unit, recently underwent a competency exam in the US District Court for the Central District of California case, results of which will be shared with the Northern District of Illinois.

The bar received 136 complaints about Girardi between Aug. 10, 1982, and Dec. 17, 2020, when the Girardi Keese firm and the man were forced into bankruptcy, the agency said. Since the bankruptcy petition, the bar’s received 69 complaints. Nearly 60 of those recent complaints alleged client trust account violations, documents the bar released after an earlier agreement with LA Times.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and in-house counsel represent the LA Times. The bar Office of Chief Trial Counsel and Wagstaffe, von Loewenfeldt, Busch & Radwick LLP represent the agency.

The case is Los Angeles Times Communications v. State Bar of California (Girardi), Cal., No. S269401, settlement announced 6/12/23.