In one notable example, Girardi wired $300,000 from a client trust account to a sitting appellate judge with whom he was carrying on a years-long extramarital affair. A trustee overseeing the law firm bankruptcy estimates that Girardi stole $14 million from clients in the final decade before his firm collapsed. In the wake of Girardi’s astonishing downfall, evidence has poured out about corruption at his vaunted firm, Girardi Keese, and elsewhere. “What’s the purpose of this? They are spending money of lawyers’ dues - what do they anticipate doing, except blaming prior employees for an alleged transgression by Mr. Girardi has already been disbarred,” Baker said in a brief phone interview. “There’s no reason in my opinion to do an examination about the State Bar’s former employees after Mr. Asked if one of the unidentified witnesses was Layton, Baker said, “I’m not going to get into that.”Įxterior of State Bar of California offices in downtown Los Angeles. Layton sued the agency in 2016 for wrongful termination after questions arose about his connection to Girardi and reached a $400,000 settlement. litigator who knew Girardi for decades and defended him in numerous lawsuits brought by disgruntled clients and peers over the years.īaker declined to identify his clients but said both had previously sued the State Bar. Layton did not return messages seeking comment.īoth former employees are represented by Robert Baker, a veteran L.A. Girardi and the investigator were frequently seen together at Girardi’s law office, political fundraisers, civic events, the Jonathan Club and upscale steakhouses such as Morton’s and the Palm. Inquiry-related interviews and correspondence reviewed by The Times indicate that one of the former employees is Tom Layton, a once-prominent State Bar investigator who had a close friendship with Girardi while the lawyer was the subject of numerous ethics complaints.Īs The Times has previously detailed, Layton accepted free legal work, travel and meals from Girardi and one of his children worked at the lawyer’s Wilshire Boulevard firm. Instead, the lawyers identified each only as a “confidential witness” in what agency lawyers said was an attempt to preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigation. In seeking a judge’s order to compel them to submit to questioning, the State Bar did not name the former employees. In a pair of filings in recent days in Los Angeles County Superior Court, lawyers for the State Bar wrote that the former employees were believed to have “information relevant to the investigation” but had flouted subpoenas issued in July directing them to testify under oath. The State Bar of California is taking two former employees to court in a bid to force them to divulge what they know about suspected corruption at the agency that allowed Tom Girardi to avoid discipline for decades. The State Bar is seeking a judge's order to compel two former employees to submit to questioning about suspected corruption at the agency that allowed Tom Girardi, above, to avoid discipline for decades.
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