The California State Bar Court Review Department rejected an attack on its reciprocal discipline procedures

Respondent, Steven James Foster, was publically censured in a 2017 proceeding in which he agreed that he had committed professional misconduct in Colorado. He stipulated in the Colorado proceeding that obtaining a loan from a client without obtaining the client’s informed written consent and advising the client that he could obtain independent counsel violated the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct. In this reciprocal disciplinary matter, in which Foster separately stipulated to culpable conduct, a State Bar Court hearing judge found that Foster’s misconduct in Colorado constituted a disciplinary violation in California, considered that this is Foster’s second discipline in California, and recommended discipline of a one-year stayed suspension.

Foster appeals, raising constitutional challenges to the California reciprocal discipline statute, as he has done previously in this court and in federal court. He also argues that, at most, he should receive a private reproval for his misconduct. The Office of Chief Trial Counsel of the State Bar (OCTC) has not appealed, and asks that we uphold the hearing judge’s discipline recommendation.

After independently reviewing the record under California Rules of Court, rule 9.12, we reject Foster’s arguments, adopt the hearing judge’s findings, and affirm her recommendation of discipline.

(Mike Frisch)