Wednesday, February 4, 2026
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State Bar Urges Disbarment of Oakland Lawyer Over Profane, Racially-Charged Remarks
Opinion Says Both Sides Were Derelict in Failing to Timely Inform Court of Plaintiff’s Pending Proceedings Where First District Guidelines Call for Notice, Outside Assurance That Petition Would Not Affect Appeal Is No Excuse
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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RESHMA KAMATH |
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The State Bar of California has recommended the disbarment of an Oakland-based attorney for, among other misdeeds, repeatedly using profanity-laced, racially-charged, and abusive language in court filings and accusing multiple jurists of racism.
Reshma Kamath was also charged with ignoring an order issuing sanctions against her and continuing to represent clients in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after she was disbarred from practicing law in that jurisdiction by way of an Aug. 29, 2024 order by District Court Judge James Donato.
State Bar Court Judge Phong Wang authored Friday’s decision recommending disbarment, which was announced by the State Bar on Monday. The ruling follows an Oct. 30 default judgment that was entered after Kamath failed to appear on the fourth day of trial on the disciplinary charges.
She was found culpable of 25 counts of misconduct.
One Incident
One incident highlighted by Friday’s decision relates to her handling of the Quintara Biosciences Inc. v. Ruifeng Bitztech case, filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, in which she substituted in as counsel for the defendants shortly before trial.
On June 5, 2023, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson sanctioned her more than $5,000 for failing to appear as ordered for an in-person settlement conference. That same day, she filed an “objection” to the order, in which she declared that she would not pay and commented:
“[J]udicial officers, such as Judge Hixson, are attacking minority women in the profession who do not have white, and/or male lawyers as part of the law firms. The Salem Witch Hunt towards minority women in the legal profession, and to those of Indian-descent is quite visible in Judge Hixson’s Order.”
Senior District Court Judge William Alsup affirmed the order, and she was held in contempt in November for failing to pay the sanctions. According to Friday’s decision, she also failed to self-report the sanctions order to the State Bar as required.
Further Notice
After she was referred to the Standing Committee on Professional Conduct by Alsup and Hixson, she filed a complaint against both jurists, courtroom staff members, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, among others, in December 2023, asserting claims of racial and gender discrimination.
The case was assigned to Senior District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the Southern District of California, who dismissed the lawsuit on Aug. 2, 2024 after Kamath failed to serve the defendants.
On Aug. 3, 2024, she filed a letter with the court entitled, “Dear Racists,” in which she said:
“If this racist decision of CURRIEL doesn’t get set aside and the complaint is not re-instated, then the next complaint filed will have both MARY H. MURUGUIA and GONZALO P. CURRIEL—the Latin-American Racists bringing in the misogyny from the southern border.”
Curiel ordered the case to be dismissed with prejudice a few weeks later.
She made similar accusations against District Court Judge Holcomb of the Central District of California in 2024 while representing the plaintiffs in the Jenkins v. Jimenez case. After Holcomb raised concerns over whether service had been properly accomplished, she failed to appear at a scheduling conference.
In response to an order to show cause why the court should not hold her in contempt, she filed three declarations in August 2024, in which she accused the jurist of racism and misogyny, saying in one of the filings:
“Until White people learn how to behave with me…I’ll increase the intensity of such declarations, notices, and letters that I file.”
Friday’s 59-page decision points to similar accusations she made against other jurists, including District Court Judges Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California as well as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elaine Mandel.
Addressing her conduct during the disciplinary proceedings, Wang noted:
“[D]uring trial, Kamath lied about her medical condition to delay the proceedings; and following entry of her default, Kamath provided falsified documents in support of her motion to set aside that default….Kamath attached a letter purportedly electronically signed by Dr. Karim Barolia Khurram of Kaiser Permanente, but that doctor confirmed that it was falsified; and the other note Kamath provided[] bore the name of a nonexistent doctor with San Francisco General Hospital….These additional proven serious acts of misconduct are relevant to any future inquiry into Kamath’s return to practice.”
First Amendment Rights
Wang acknowledged that “an attorney has a First Amendment right to criticize the judicial system,” but said “speech is not protected if it consists of false statements made knowingly, or with a reckless disregard for the truth.”
Finding that exception applicable to much of her charged conduct, the court declared:
“It is recommended that Reshma Kamath, State Bar Number 333800, be disbarred from the practice of law in California and that Kamath’s name be stricken from the roll of attorneys.”
Wang continued:
“Reshma Kamath is ordered transferred to involuntary inactive status pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 6007, subdivision (c)(4). Kamath’s inactive enrollment will be effective three calendar days after this order is served and will terminate upon the effective date of the Supreme Court’s order imposing discipline herein, or as provided for by rule 5.111(D)(2) of the State Bar Rules of Procedure or as otherwise ordered by the Supreme Court pursuant to its plenary jurisdiction.”
According to the State Bar website, she is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law and was admitted to practice in 2021.
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