In Re Schatz

497 P.2d 153, 80 Wash. 2d 604, 1972 Wash. LEXIS 609
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMay 11, 1972
Docket42036
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 497 P.2d 153 (In Re Schatz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Schatz, 497 P.2d 153, 80 Wash. 2d 604, 1972 Wash. LEXIS 609 (Wash. 1972).

Opinions

Hunter, J.

This is an application by Robert Leslie Schatz (petitioner) for a writ of mandamus to compel the Board of Governors of the Washington State Bar Association (respondent) to examine the petitioner as to his qualifications for admission to the bar, or, alternatively, for admission to practice on motion.

On June 14, 1971, Robert Leslie Schatz submitted his application to the Board of Governors of the Washington State Bar Association for permission to take the state bar examination conducted in July 1971. The petitioner is a resident of the state of California and graduated from Pep-perdine University School of Law, Santa Ana, California, on July 3, 1970. The law school is not on the list of law schools accredited by the American Bar Association but has been provisionally accredited since July 1, 1970, by the committee of bar examiners of the California State Bar. The petitioner’s application was rejected by the Board of Governors on the basis that he is not a graduate of an approved law school within the scope and meaning of Admission to Practice Rules 2A, which reads:

A. Definitions
A “general applicant” means either (1) a graduate of an approved law school who does not qualify as an attorney applicant under Rule 3, or (2) a registered law clerk who has satisfactorily completed the course of study prescribed by these Rules.
An “approved law school” means a law school approved by the board of governors. The board of governors shall keep a list of approved law schools on file with [606]*606the State Bar Association and the Clerk of the Supreme Court.

The Board of Governors maintains a policy that an approved law school is a law school approved by the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar of the American Bar Association. During the years 1955 through 1965, the Rules for Admission to Practice expressly provided the same (Rule 2B, 47 Wn.2d xxii, xxiii, 1955-65), and the respondent has since continued to adhere to that rule or policy.

The petitioner filed this mandamus proceeding on June 24, 1971. It was ordered, on July 1, 1971, that the petitioner’s application be set for hearing which is now before this court.

The petitioner challenges the constitutionality of the Washington State Bar Act (RCW 2.48 et seq.) on the basis that the authority delegated to the Board of Governors in carrying out its powers constitutes an unlawful delegation of legislative authority contrary to Const, art. 1, § 3, for the reason that no guidelines or standards are enumerated in the statute for the exercise of such power. Our examination of the record, however, shows only one section of the State Bar Act that affects the rights of the petitioner relative to the asserted unlawful delegation of legislative authority. We therefore need to consider only that section, which is RCW 2.48.060:

The said board of governors shall likewise have power, in its discretion, from time to time to adopt rules, subject to the approval of the supreme court, fixing the qualifications, requirements and procedure for admission to the practice of law; and, with such approval, to establish from time to time and enforce rules of professional conduct for all members of the state bar; and, with such approval, to appoint boards or committees to examine applicants for admission; and, to investigate, prosecute and hear all causes involving discipline, disbarment, suspension or reinstatement, and make recommendations thereon to the supreme court; and, with such approval, to prescribe rules establishing the procedure for the investigation and hearing of such matters, and establishing [607]*607county or district agencies to assist therein to the extent provided by such rules: Provided, however, That no person who shall have participated in the investigation or prosecution of any such cause shall sit as a member of any board or committee hearing the same.

(Italics ours.)

The petitioner’s contention that this section of the State Bar Act constitutes an unlawful delegation of legislative authority is wholly without merit. The legislature expressly recognized the primacy of the court in the area of admissions and disbarment when it made the board’s powers' subject to the approval of the Supreme Court under RCW 2.48.060. The language of the statute clearly lodges all ultimate authority in the Supreme Court. The Board of Governors, acting in this area, is an arm of the court, independent of legislative direction. In our recent case, State ex rel. Schwab v. State Bar Ass’n, 80 Wn.2d 266, 493 P.2d 1237 (1971), we cited Clark v. Washington, 366 F.2d 678 (9th Cir. 1966), and Campbell v. Washington State Bar Ass’n, 263 F. Supp. 991 (W.D. Wash. 1967), wherein it was held that the Washington State Bar Association acts as an ’arm of the Supreme Court in conducting proceedings under this section and, in that capacity, is an integral part of the judicial process.

It is well settled by repeated decisions that the power to admit and enroll attorneys in the state of Washington, together with the power to disbar, is exclusively in the Supreme Court. See In re Chi-Dooh Li, 79 Wn.2d 561, 488 P.2d 259 (1971); In re Ballou, 48 Wn.2d 539, 295 P.2d 316 (1956); State ex rel. Laughlin v. State Bar Ass’n, 26 Wn.2d 914, 176 P.2d 301 (1947); In re Levy, 23 Wn.2d 607, 161 P.2d 651, 162 A.L.R. 805 (1945); In re Bruen, 102 Wash. 472, 172 P. 1152 (1918); In re Lambuth, 18 Wash. 478, 51 P. 1071 (1898). This rule is in conformity with the established rule throughout the country that admission to practice is the exercise of a judicial function and one of the inherent powers of the court. See In re Nebraska State Bar Ass’n, 133 Neb. 283, 275 N.W. 265 (1937); Rosenthal v. State Bar [608]*608Examining Comm., 116 Conn. 409, 165 A. 211, 87 A.L.R. 991 (1933); Brydonjack v. State Bar, 208 Cal. 439, 281 P. 1018, 66 A.L.R. 1507 (1929); In re Day, 181 Ill. 73, 54 N.E. 646 (1899). We held in the case of In re Moody, 69 Wn.2d 808, 420 P.2d 374 (1966), at 811, that:

The legislature, in the enactment of the integrated bar act, reposed in the Supreme Court the duty of promulgating rules governing admission to practice law and the discipline of attorneys.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
497 P.2d 153, 80 Wash. 2d 604, 1972 Wash. LEXIS 609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-schatz-wash-1972.