How to check a California lawyer's license and discipline record
Every lawyer who practices in California is licensed by the State Bar of California, and the State Bar publishes a public profile for each one. Looking a lawyer up takes a couple of minutes and is free. It is worth doing before you sign anything, whoever the lawyer is and however you found them.
Find the profile
Use the State Bar’s attorney search on calbar.ca.gov. You can search by name or by State Bar number. If the firm’s website or letterhead shows a bar number, searching by number avoids mixing up two lawyers with similar names.
A law firm itself does not have a State Bar license; the lawyers in it do. Look up the lawyer who will actually handle your matter, not only the name on the sign.
Every listing in this directory links at least one State Bar profile; 391 firms also publish a State Bar number on their own site (as of November 5, 2026).
What the profile shows
- License status. Only a lawyer whose status is Active may practice law in California. Other statuses, such as Inactive, Suspended, Disbarred or Resigned, mean the person may not take your case. This directory only publishes listings whose State Bar record read Active when we checked.
- Admission date. When the lawyer was admitted to the State Bar of California. It tells you how long they have been licensed here, not how much of that time was spent on injury cases. Ask about that directly.
- Public discipline. The profile shows whether there is public discipline on record and links to the documents. Read them yourself; we do not summarise or characterise anyone’s record.
- Address of record. The address the lawyer has given the State Bar. It may differ from the office you visit.
“Specialist” has a specific meaning
In California, a lawyer may call themselves a certified specialist only if they are certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, or by an organization it accredits (Rule 7.4 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct). When a lawyer holds a State Bar certification, it appears on their State Bar profile. On this site we show it only in that form: “Certified Specialist in <area>, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization”. A website that says “injury specialists” without a certification is describing what the firm does, not a credential.
0 firms in the directory have a lawyer whose State Bar profile lists a certified specialty.
Check again before you sign
A profile can change. The trust check on each listing shows what the State Bar profile said on the date we checked, with a link to the live profile. Open the link and read the current record before you hire.
Next: what a contingency fee agreement must say.
This is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every situation is different and deadlines apply: ask a lawyer licensed in California about yours.