Calif. State Bar Poses as Client, Never Sees Lawyer in PI Case

In the course of another investigation, the Orange County, Calif., district attorney's office focused on a different issue at an Upland lawyer's satellite office in Westminster.

Nonattorneys were apparently running the personal injury law practice, from intake to settlement, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports.

After the district attorney's office complained to the State Bar of California, it investigated—and, on Monday, closed the Westminster operation of the Law Office of Walter S. Martinez, as well as L&M Legal Services in Westminster, the article reports. Martinez himself was not targeted in the enforcement action and has no history of discipline.

“We posed as accident victims and ran a case through the office and never once met with an attorney,” says a spokesperson for the State Bar.

The State Bar is now effectively winding down the Westminster practice, under an Orange County Superior Court order.