senior program analyst

program analyst

attorney

senior it analyst

senior program specialist

The State Bar of California

The benefits are comprehensive at the Bar; health, dental along with a pension. There's also the 457 Plan that operates like an IRA. One has join the SEIU to work there, it's mandatory. 
The mission of the Bar is to regulate and discipline attorneys, the culture is like none I had experienced. The politics are complicated, there is lots of policy to understand and implement. It constantly changes in each and every department, depending on the Board of Trustees and the California State Legislature.
There's not much opportunity, if you're good at your job they will keep you there; lateral movement is a possibility but vertical is limited. Managers stay at their jobs, they don't move around much. 
For someone getting their feet wet in a professional government agency the Bar is a good place to start, you'll learn and obtain professional skills. You'll also be exposed to a wide variety of situations inside and outside the Bar.

At the end of the day, I walked away with a good pension, and the belief that I had done my very best to protect the public and uphold the profession. Would I recommend anyone else seek employment there? Absolutely not. The Board of Trustees knows nothing about the nuts and bolts of the work, and turns over frequently in any event. In addition, management turns over at an alarming rate. Just when staff gets used to one manager, they’re gone. Voluntarily or involuntarily. The legislature and the Supreme Court further complicate the job. Everyone above staff is determined to put their stamp on the organization, and staff suffers from serious whiplash and burnout. This agency should be folded into the AG’s office, like all other licensing agencies. Why is it not? Because none of the stakeholders will cede control. If I had it to do over again, I’d spend my career in the AG’s office. 

Management makes constant changes to work policies and procedures, and new policies and procedures are not always fully-adopted by all line staff.  This makes completing work tasks confusing and inefficient.  The current mantra of the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel is that "the only thing constant at the State Bar is change."  While change is constant in any organization, it's unconscionable to change employee goals and metrics in the middle of an evaluation cycle.  The organization operates on a culture of fear in order to "encourage" investigators to produce more case dispositions.  The pay and benefits are very good, so  if you don't mind being treated poorly and being threatened with losing your job on a regular basis, you can make a decent living as an investigator.     

I was an investigator in the OCTC. The idea IS NOT to investigate attorney misconduct but to draft memo after memo in an effort to make it look as if there had actually been an investigation. Nor is it designed to discipline attorneys. Last year, out of 15,000 complaints made to the State Bar, only 25 got to an actual hearing. WTF! As far as management goes, WHAT MANAGEMENT? The term slave drivers is more appropriate. I don't know what it's like to work in other areas of the State Bar but OCTC is for all intents a purposes a fraudulent enterprise. OCTC is horrible place to work for an honest person. Finally, as far as attorney positions it's a great place to work if you don't want to practice law. On any given day half the attorney offices are empty.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Hourly pay is great.  Paid parking.  Overall applicants are easy to walk with and professional.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
At times you receive mixed communication from staff.

If you suspect someone cheating having to document it and report to staff.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
All information is highly confidential!  Long hours walking/standing with occasional breaks.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive prior to applicants make sure room and all documents are placed accordingly.

Security-Greet applicants make sure they are bringing in the allowed items into the testing room.

This used to be a great place to work at but new management gradually changed that and has become extremely petty, has no interest in employee well-being and only cares about their political advancement by cutting out every benefit. Staff has triple the work it can complete competently but is always pushed to do more and faster. Reviews are always geared towards what employees do wrong and never towards promoting their skills. Managers in place are not trustworthy and consistently try to “write up” staff. There is an incredible amount of turnover due to this. I would not recommend working here as an attorney or investigator.

The State Bar is a quasi-state agency. It does not receive any money from the State of California, it is fully funded by the attorney members. The Bar offers comprehensive benefits and pays well. Interestingly, there are several labor unions that represent the majority of the employees, even the attorneys. Salaries are competitive with the State of California Attorney General's office. Work hours are usually 8:30am to 5:30pm with a full hour for lunch.

There were too many changes in management when I was there. This made the atmosphere in general feel unstable. All the union meetings and involvement did not help. The staff is great; always ready to help each other out. 
One problem was that the secretaries, who are already assigned to 5-6 attorneys, would have to work for other attorneys when there was a vacancy or another secretary was out. The Bar sometimes took months to fill a vacancy, leaving the secretaries overwhelmed with work. This put a strain on everyone.

A typical day at the State Bar involved organizing files that were a complete mess. I loved putting files in complete order for all attorneys to review. I also loved working with attorneys who appreciated the fact that I was a paralegal in a previous life, but I was now a Coordinator of Records, and I could do a multitude of other duties. The most enjoyable part of my job was being able to accomplish a difficult task. The work culture was pleasurable. I learned a lot at the State Bar.

*Show up at 9, print out jobs for people; copies, books, booklets ect
*I learned how to work a large scale printer, print, bind, staple books
*I know the manager, nice lady, so i had an "in" with the boss
*Witty, knowledgeable, and funny #nocomplaints
*consistently binding booklets, repetitive process   
*I had free time to print out, staple, bind and customize my own Adventure Journal, which i now use to log all my explorations to the woods

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior program analyst 27 salaries reported	$124,808 per year
Program analyst 19 salaries reported	$107,815 per year
Attorney 10 salaries reported	$178,989 per year
Senior it analyst 2 salaries reported	$109,203 per year
Senior program specialist 5 salaries reported	$82,444 per year

Working at The State Bar of California: Company Overview and Reviews

The State Bar of California

The State Bar of California Ratings

Popular jobs at The State Bar of California

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected