Calif.’s Hard-Line Discipline Prosecutor Gets Axed from ‘Brutal Job’

California’s hard-charging chief bar discipline prosecutor won’t be reappointed to another four-year term.

Scott Drexel, who came in for criticism as head of the bar’s prosecution unit, told the Daily Journal (sub. req.) that he was given no reason for the decision last week by the state bar’s board of governors.

"They are certainly entitled to make a decision either way," Drexel told the publication. "I know that some of the things I've done have been somewhat controversial."

Drexel has been criticized as overzealous, the San Jose Mercury News reports. He gained critics for pursuing ethics charges against prosecutors, for introducing a rule to allow permanent disbarment in the most serious discipline cases, and for posting disciplinary charges online, according to the Daily Journal story.

Deputy executive director Robert Hawley told the Daily Journal that the state bar has had five chief trial counsels, and only one got a second term. "It's a brutal job," he said.