Valley public defender was ‘not eligible to practice law’ for 2 months, CA Bar says
Another high-profile attorney in the San Joaquin Valley was temporarily not allowed to practice law — this time for about two months — after failing to complete a routine records verification, according to the State Bar of California.
Tulare County Public Defender Erin Brooks was deemed “not eligible to practice law,” a non-disciplinary action, as of July 1 for not completing the Client Trust Account Protection Program, according to the state bar.
The non-compliance note was removed on Wednesday, and Brooks has been reinstated, a bar spokesperson confirmed.
Earlier this year, Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz was designated not eligible to practice law. He was reinstated after filling out the forms and paying a fine within the first two weeks of July.
Brooks said she was under the impression she had completed her requirements correctly, as she has done since being admitted in 2003.
“I thought I had done everything I was supposed to do,” she told The Bee. “I found out recently that was not the case.”
Though records verifications are not new, the bar began only last year placing attorneys who miss the deadline “out of compliance,” according to a bar spokesperson.
The bar did not notify her of any non-compliance, Brooks said. One of her employees was looking up Brooks’s license number online to put it on a court document and noticed the non-compliance note on Sept. 5, Brooks said.
She called the lapse in her compliance “unfortunate,” but did not expect it to affect any work she has done since July 1. She said she has a largely administrative role as the public defender and has not appeared in court in the past two months.
“I’m not blowing this off,” she said. “It’s just not my style to not do what I’m supposed to do.”
As the head of the Tulare County Public Defender’s office, Brooks oversees about 45 attorneys who take on about 14,000 cases a year, she said. Brooks was appointed to lead the office in 2021, and has worked in Tulare County since 2004.
A state bar spokesperson said Wednesday while the lapses no longer appeared on the online attorney profiles for Brooks or Janz, they remained on their records and are subject to public information requests.
