Letters to the Editor: After Tom Girardi scandal, it’s clear the State Bar of California needs reform

To the editor: I read about Tom Girardi with astonishment (“Tom Girardi — disgraced legal titan, former ‘Real Housewives’ husband — sentenced to 7 years in prison,” June 3). There were over 200 complaints to the State Bar of California. Yet the bar was MIA, with “wine-soaked lunches” while money was stolen from clients right under their noses. In contrast, lawyers in the U.K. must have full outside audits of their books. Client money is audited to the last penny. And the auditors themselves are audited, by examiners from the bar’s equivalent. Hence, corruption is rare.

The bar here has roused itself to make some minor reforms. Good luck. Attorneys are not saints, free from temptation. More policing is needed. I suggest outside audits of attorneys’ books by certified public accountants retained by the bar, to obviate conflicts of interest. As for the bar’s dereliction of duty, heads must roll.

Raymond Freeman, Thousand Oaks