(CN) — The California State Bar has turned to software giant Tyler Technologies for a case-management overhaul, but critics say it will take a lot more than a $5.6 million software upgrade to repair its reputation with the Legislature and the public.
"The state bar has completely lost their way. It is literally the most dysfunctional organization I've ever had to deal with as a lawyer," attorney Mark Geragos said. "They're the classic example of putting lipstick on a pig. Rather than deal with their problems they spend $5 million on a system they don't need."
Geragos is currently representing ousted bar president Sen. Joseph Dunn, who in 2014 filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming former chief trial counsel Jayne Kim had removed 269 backlogged attorney discipline cases from internal records to make her office appear more productive.
"Even when they had the those UPL cases that were stuffed into a drawer, technology wouldn't have solved that problem," Geragos said, referring to a news report that the state bar failed to investigate over 300 complaints about UPL — the unauthorized practice of law — listed as sitting unassigned in a drawer since April 2015.
Leah Wilson, who was hired for the newly created position of chief operations officer last year, said the new software will help mitigate some of the agency's transparency and discipline issues, but acknowledged that an outdated computer system isn't entirely to blame.
"While the old system was not, itself, responsible for the backlog, it tied up resources in case management that could have been devoted to the investigation and prosecution of cases," she said. "The Odyssey system will improve the state bar's system for disciplining unethical attorneys, which is a core part of the agency's public protection mission."
The move toward a more modern software system comes at a time of mounting controversy for the state bar, a bureaucracy with the California judiciary responsible for administering the California Bar exam and disciplining delinquent attorneys while also functioning as a trade association for its members.
In the past year, the state bar has seen two blistering audits and withering criticism by lawmakers, who through a bill making its ability to collect membership dues next year contingent on sweeping reforms to its leadership structure.
A majority report released in early August by the Task Force on Governance in the Public Interest extolled the new Tyler software as one of the "many recent accomplishments to which the state bar can point."
But it also acknowledged the strained relationship between the semi-public agency and the Legislature, saying, "In fact, the state bar has developed a reputation for being unresponsive and resistant to needed reform when issues are pointed out by the Legislature."
Assemblyman David Chiu, a Democrat from San Francisco, recently likened the state bar to the Titanic, saying, "If we don't turn it around, we'll have only ourselves to blame."
In an interview, he said, "While new software can't hurt, the deeper governance, transparency and culture issue of the state bar will require more significant reform measures and we look forward to having that conversation."
The state bar's more spectacular failures have been chronicled in two separate audits in 2015 and 2016, where State Auditor Elaine Howle blasted the agency for errors in its financial reports to the Legislature, an excessive backlog of attorney discipline cases, and collecting more membership dues than required to meet its operational costs.