[2] It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate discipline, accepting attorney-member fees, and financially distributing sums paid through attorney trust accounts to fund nonprofit legal entities.

[5] The State Bar has been cited for its corrupt practices during the 21st century, and is subject to reforms issued by its governing body, the California Supreme Court.

[8]: xiii  Sullivan, who was also the President of the Bar Association of San Francisco, organized BASF committees to draft and propose appropriate legislation.

[8]: xvi  The State Bar immediately mailed out registration forms (demanding a $3 preorganization fee as authorized by the Act) to all California attorneys.

[8]: xvii  On November 17, the State Bar held a preorganization dinner at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, followed by the formal organization meeting the next day.

[8]: xviii  The next morning, during the State Bar's organization meeting, the CBA yielded to its successor by winding up its affairs and ending its corporate existence.

SB 36, sponsored by Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) which mandated the separation of the sections of the State Bar into a new 501(c)(6) entity.

[16] SB 36 helped formalize the separation, reauthorized mandatory dues for two years, and reduced the number of lawyers on the State Bar of California's board of trustees.

[18] It administers the biannual bar examination for law students, processes complaints about attorney misconduct and the unauthorized practice of law, disciplines attorneys, and works with the California Supreme Court to consider and draft the Rules of Professional Conduct by which all California lawyers must conduct themselves.

On September 7, 1999, Governor Gray Davis signed a bill that set the annual fee for the State Bar at $395, thus ending the funding crisis.

[24] Another punitive lapse occurred in 2016, when the State Legislature allowed its session to end without enacting a bill authorizing the bar to collect lawyer fees in 2017.

Usually this was done by reading Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England as a textbook, and by interning for a judge or a lawyer for a prescribed period.

A prospective applicant must receive a "positive determination" as to the inquiry on their "moral character" in addition to satisfying all other educational requirements and exam passages to be granted a license to practice law in California.

[31] The majority of prospective lawyers studying for the California Bar attend law schools accredited by the ABA or approved by the CBE.

Significant among these are former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (a graduate of Peoples College of Law who never passed the bar exam after failing four times), Stanford Law School dean and Harvard Law School graduate Kathleen Sullivan (who failed the bar in July 2005 but passed on her second attempt in February 2006),[39] California Governor and former Attorney General Jerry Brown, a graduate of Yale Law School (who failed his first attempt but passed on his second attempt), former California Governor Pete Wilson, a graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law (who passed on his fourth attempt), former San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Angela Alioto (who failed several times before passing) and former United States Secretary of the Interior William P. Clark Jr. (who failed his first attempt).

In recent years, it has been increasingly common for the exam to feature one or more "crossover" questions, which tests applicants in multiple subjects.

[44] The MBE covers only the topics of contracts (including sales of goods under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code), real property, torts, constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, the Federal Rules of Evidence, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

[46] Finally in 2020 the California Supreme Court lowered the passing score, effective with the October 2020 bar exam onward.

[citation needed] Learning that only some schools had this information, the State Bar decided to release the shortened list to all exam takers.

[56] The California Supreme court officially approved a change in modality to online and in person administration of the bar exam on October 22, 2024.

Under that ruling, as well as a statute that Governor Brown signed into law taking effect on January 1, 2014 (in order to take advantage of a specific provision of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act discussed at oral argument before the state supreme court), Garcia was admitted to the state bar.

[59] Prior to November 1, 2018, California was the only state that did not use either set of professional responsibility rules developed by the American Bar Association.

On September 19, 2014, the Supreme Court of California returned to the State Bar all proposed revised rules that had been submitted for its consideration.

[60][61] The Court's letter directed the State Bar to start the process all over again with a new commission, and to submit a new set of revised rules by March 31, 2017.

For years, [the State Bar] has carried an enormous backlog ...averaging some 1,600–1,900 uncompleted investigations .... Any backlog—much less one of this magnitude—undermines our credibility with the public .... Only offending lawyers deserving of discipline benefit from delay....[68]As a regulatory agency whose mission is now focused on public protection, the State Bar's services are focused on those necessary to meet its mission.

[73] In November 2023, the State Bar of California became the first regulatory agency in the profession to pass disclosure and billing guidelines for member use of artificial intelligence (AI).

[79] The same day, Dunn filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the State Bar challenging the termination because he had exposed malfeasance and "egregious improprieties.

[63][90] In 2009, long-time member and Girardi & Keese partner Howard Miller had been elected, uncontested, as the State Bar's 85th president.

[91][92] In 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that Miller had led the board of trustees to force out its director, recruiting another Girardi ally, Joe Dunn, to replace[93] Judy Johnson, its longest-serving executive director[94] following two terms as its chief trial counsel, overseeing attorney discipline in California.

[95] (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an attorney may, but is not required to, reveal confidential information relating to the representation of a client to the extent that the attorney reasonably believes the disclosure is necessary to prevent a criminal act that the attorney reasonably believes is likely to result in death of, or substantial bodily harm to, an individual.with Rule 1.6 (b)(1) of the ABA Model Rules: (b) A lawyer may reveal information relating to the representation of a client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary: (1) to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm...