This week’s news that City Attorney Mike Aguirre is the subject of a State Bar of California probe puts him in the company of about one out of every 14 lawyers, according to the bar association’s records.
About 7 percent of the 157,546 bar members who practice law in California were investigated last year, according to the bar’s annual report on attorney discipline.
The report also lists the most frequent allegation leveled against lawyers last year. Chief among them was an attorney’s performance, which was cited in 34 percent of the complaints. Other frequent complaints deal with an attorney representing interests that are adverse to a client’s (15 percent); the personal conduct, including criminal behavior, of an attorney (12 percent); interfering with justice by advising a client to break the law (11 percent); and charging exorbitant legal fees (11 percent).
The complaints driving Aguirre’s investigation are not officially known, as state bar officials are not commenting. But his opponents have claimed he has filed malicious prosecutions, taken stances adverse to the city’s interests, and filed lawsuits improperly without the consent of the City Council.