Ex-California Bar Director Dunn Ethics Trial Set for November

Fired California State Bar Executive Director Joe Dunn, who already won dismissal of some disciplinary charges filed against him, failed Monday to convince a State Bar Court judge to drop the remaining charges.

State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland, in a four-page order, held that Dunn’s motion lacked merit. Dunn’s third dismissal motion “seeks to relitigate the same issues previously ruled on by this court” in its Feb. 9 order granting and denying in part his second motion to dismiss, the order filed just prior to the status conference said.

Trial is scheduled Nov. 28-30, Dec. 1, and Dec. 5 on the remaining disciplinary counts—moral turpitude claims for allegedly false remarks Dunn made to the bar’s Board of Trustees that no bar funds would be used to fund a January 2014 trip to Mongolia. Mongolia had sought California’s help on lawyer admission and discipline.

The State Bar Court Review Department, which acts as an appellate panel, May 26 upheld dismissal of claims alleging Dunn misled the board about who paid for his trip and about opposition to pending legislation. The bar argued the clock began when the arbitration over Dunn’s 2014 firing was completed in 2017.

Dunn, a former state lawmaker, sued the bar in 2014, weeks after he was fired. The disciplinary charges were filed in July 2022.

Dunn’s co-counsel Ellen Pansky, with Pansky Markle Attorneys at Law, said for “months and months” the State Bar didn’t complete its discovery production. The bar’s “document production wasn’t made available to us until after your honor ruled on the motion so we had no opportunity to put additional documents before the court.”

Charles Berwanger, a Gordon & Reese partner who is special outside trial counsel for the bar, said Dunn’s team “has had many, many months to prepare its motion to dismiss, and any requests for additional hearing reconsideration really is without support.”

Roland said she was “not inclined to go forward with scheduling an interim hearing of any type to address the statute of limitations issue, or any other issue for that matter.”

The judge did schedule an additional settlement conference ahead of the trial.

Berwanger and Edward J. McIntyre, an ethics attorney in San Diego, represent the bar. Pansky and Geragos & Geragos represent Dunn.

The case is In Re Joseph Dunn, Cal. State Bar, No, SBC-22-O-30655, hearing 9/18/23.