The State Bar of California announced on Thursday that an internal audit showed the agency made numerous mistakes going back years in its failure to investigate complaints against Los Angeles area lawyer Tom Girardi.
A long list of lawsuits dogs Girardi. He is accused of owing tens of millions of dollars to creditors and of swindling the widows and orphans he represented. Yet, according to an L.A. Times investigation, his record with the State Bar, a government agency tasked with regulating attorneys, was clean.
A press release from the State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees said an internal audit “revealed mistakes made in some investigations over the many decades of Mr. Girardi’s career going back some 40 years and spanning the tenure of many Chief Trial Counsels.”
The State Bar did not elaborate on the specific mistakes that were found.
Agency spokeswoman Teresa Ruano told the LA Times she could not speak about the exact number or the nature of the complaints. “The details of the audit are confidential,” Ruano said.
Girardi lived the high life prior to complaints that he mishandled clients’ funds became public in a federal lawsuit in December 2020. He was the inspiration for Ed Asner’s character in “Erin Brockovich” and married to “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne. Jayne filed for divorce shortly before the allegations broke in November 2020.
Girardi lost his law license in March 2021. The bar brought disciplinary charges against him alleging “major misappropriation of client funds.”