Elana Thibault v. State Bar of California

In California, an attorney has a constitutionally protected property interest in her right to practice her profession. Conway v. State Bar, 47 Cal.3d 1107, 1113 (1989). The state’s legislature accords the State Bar of California (the “State Bar”) the power to discipline attorneys and prescribes ways how this power may be used. It also authorizes the Board of Trustees to devise rules to be applied in disciplinary proceedings. Under the State Bar’s rules of procedure, an attorney’s right to practice law may be suspended only if the State Bar demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence, after an adversary hearing, that the attorney is culpable of professional misconduct. A decision must be supported by written findings of fact and is immediately reviewable by the State Bar Court’s Review-Department. The question presented is: Does the suspension from practice of law and imposition of monetary sanctions by methods that deviate from the prescribed means and offend the sense of fairness and decency amount to unconstitutional deprivation of an attorney’s liberty and property interests in the right to practice profession guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal constitution?