Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Thursday, May 24, 2012

 

Page 1

 

Senate Rules Committee Backs Kim for Chief Trial Counsel

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

The Senate Rules Committee yesterday unanimously approved Jayne Kim’s nomination to a four-year term as chief trial counsel of the State Bar, a spokesperson said.

Kim, 43, has served as interim chief trial counsel since September. The State Bar said prosecutors had eliminated a long-running investigatory backlog of complaints over six months old, a source of legislative criticism of the office before she took over.

At the end of 2010, there were more than 1,200 active investigations pertaining to complaints six months old or older. By the end of 2011, there were eight, all of which were in the hands of outside examiners, the State Bar said.

The State Bar reported that at the end of 2010, there were 822 such post-investigation complaints more than six months old. By the end of 2011, that number was reduced to a historic low of 188.

Senate President Pro Tem and Rules Committee Chairman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, commended Kim for the progress her office has made on a problem that had plagued the bar for decades, the State Bar reported

State Bar President Jon Streeter, who testified on behalf of Kim at today’s confirmation hearing, described Kim in remarks distributed by the State Bar as “a true professional.”

Kim, who started her career as a deputy public defender in Los Angeles County, has also worked as a bar staff prosecutor and assistant chief trial counsel. She spent three years as assistant U.S. attorney before returning to the bar as acting chief trial counsel .

Kim graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison before attending law school  at the University of Minnesota. She joined the State Bar in 1994.

During her earlier tenure with the State Bar, Kim was involved in the prosecution of the principals of the Trevor Law Group, three Beverly Hills attorneys who resigned from the State Bar rather than face charges of unfair business practices. The three had filed suit against hundreds of business owners charging consumer law violations, engaging in such abusive tactics as joining massive numbers of unrelated defendants.

 

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