Girardi Probe Shows Internally Corrupt California State Bar (1)

California’s mandatory-membership state bar faces increased criticism and scrutiny in the wake of a pair of independent reports detailing how the now-disbarred and indicted plaintiffs’ attorney Thomas Girardi infiltrated and corrupted an agency that was supposed to be protecting the public from people like him.

The redacted reports released Friday paint a picture of a state regulator compromised by workers, allegedly influenced by Girardi’s bestowal of gifts, who blocked and buried complaints against the famed attorney and his now-bankrupt Girardi Keese law firm. The white papers likely precede even more uncomfortable hours for bar executives before legislative leaders and jurists. ...