A headshot of Board Chair, Alan Steinbrecher

Alan Steinbrecher

Chair, Board of Trustees, 2019-2020

A headshot of Interim Executive Director, Donna Hershkowitz

Donna Hershkowitz

Interim Executive Director

Welcome to the State Bar of California’s first all-digital Annual Report!

The last several years at the State Bar have been truly transformative. We have experienced significant structural reform, transitioning from a hybrid organization, with a dual mission of both helping lawyers and regulating them, to a purely regulatory agency focused on public protection. We have embraced our status as a regulatory body with a mission that includes a charge to increase access to legal services and the diversity of the legal profession. And, as this report format reflects, we have modernized and enhanced the ways in which we interact with the public we serve.

Our expansive mission

We monitor the integrity and ethical practice of 250,000 attorneys serving nearly 40 million Californians. We administer the bar exam to more than 10,000 applicants each year. We discipline attorneys who harm the public. We also investigate nonlawyers who misrepresent themselves to prey on the state’s most vulnerable residents. Our mission also includes improving access to legal services in California and fostering inclusion and diversity in California’s legal profession.