The Virginia Bar Association joined with four other statewide voluntary bars in opposition to a bill proposed in the 2022 General Assembly session, Senate Bill 561. The other bar groups are the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, the Old Dominion Bar Association and the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.

The letter was sent Feb. 1 to Jay B. Myerson, a VBA member and president of the Virginia State Bar.

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. Myerson:

We represent some of the largest voluntary bar associations in Virginia, and we write in opposition to Senate Bill 561 (“SB561”), which seeks to transfer the responsibility for attorney discipline from the Virginia State Bar (“VSB”) to a new Commission whose members are appointed by the Virginia General Assembly. In signing below, we are united in our opposition to SB561.

We understand the primary responsibilities of the VSB are to protect the public and to regulate the legal profession in Virginia. This “self-regulation” is at the very heart of those tenets and is the same model that has been adopted in, and implemented by, every state in the union for generations. No other state has an attorney disciplinary system administered by, or responsible to, its legislature. Under the current system, attorneys are afforded due process. The procedures by which the system operates have at their core principles of transparency and accountability.

As leaders of statewide voluntary bar associations representing thousands of attorneys in a wide variety of practice areas, we are concerned that SB561 will severely undermine public confidence in attorneys and the justice system as a whole. Establishing a Commission, comprised of political appointees, brings an air of partisanship to a process meant solely to regulate attorneys and protect clients through established rules of ethical conduct.

SB561 further undermines public confidence in the attorney disciplinary process by keeping proceedings before the Commission confidential and closed to the public. The existing process, by contrast, allows for disclosure of any allegation of misconduct that a district committee certifies. Disciplinary proceedings, moreover, are open to the public.

This bill also puts the public at risk by permitting an attorney whose license is suspended or revoked for misconduct (requiring a unanimous vote by the Commission) to apply for reinstatement immediately, with no waiting period, and as often as once per year (with reinstatement requiring only a simple majority vote by the Commission).

Quite simply, SB561 favors attorneys at the expense of clients and the public at large. It replaces transparency with secrecy. It introduces the specter of partisanship where neutrality now reigns. It creates a system of discipline not found or adopted in any other state. For these reasons, we believe a rejection of SB561 would benefit both the members of the Virginia State Bar and the public we have taken an oath to serve.

The letter carries the signatures of the presidents of the five statewide bars, including VBA President Victor O. Cardwell.