The Supreme Court today suspended Joseph Dunn from practicing law for one year, stayed execution of the suspension, and placed him on a year’s probation. The court also ordered that Dunn is actually suspended from practice for the first 30 days of his probation. The discipline is what was recommended by the State Bar Court’s review department after a Bar Court judge had recommended a one-year stayed suspension.
The Supreme Court denied Dunn’s petition for review challenging the review department recommendation. Justice Evans was recused.
Dunn, 67, served as executive director of the State Bar for four years. Before that, he was a state senator and then CEO of the California Medical Association.
But the disciplinary charges stemmed from his State Bar days. The review department concluded that Dunn “intentionally misled” the State Bar Board of Trustees, and breached his fiduciary duties to the Board, “by misrepresenting to the Board in November 2013 that no State Bar funds would be used to fund a trip to Mongolia in January 2014.”
