February 12, 2021 at 9:55 AM Shares2 The State Bar of California disciplinary system deserves scrutiny: does it drop the hammer on more small-firm lawyers and solos than larger-firm lawyers? Does it drop the hammer on minority lawyers more than majority lawyers? The answer to both questions is yes, and I am not the only one who thinks that. It’s all well and good for the State Bar to encourage people to become lawyers, but drop-kicking them once they passed the bar is not so helpful as discipline can range from private reproval to disbarment. One of the things (among many) that has griped attorneys here in California (and I would guess elsewhere as well) is the apparent predilection of the disciplinary system to go after solo and small practitioners, leaving attorneys in Biglaw and other large firms to go scot-free when they violate the State Bar Act or the Rules of Professional Conduct. Solos and small firm lawyers are pretty much left to their own devices once in the grip of the disciplinary system. There is the sense that discipline falls unfairly on these lawyers, who may also be members of minority groups. That perception and the reality both must change if equality is to be more than just words.