Current Status:  Disbarred

This member is prohibited from practicing law in California by order of the California Supreme Court.

See below for more details.

Profile Information

The following information is from the official records of The State Bar of California.

Bar Number:	125309
Address:	Law Office of Paul E Fisher 1000 Bristol St N #17-106 Newport Beach, CA 92660	Phone Number:	(949) 533-3258
		Fax Number:	Not Available
		e-mail:	Not Available
County:	Orange	Undergraduate School:	Univ of California at Los Angeles; CA
District:	District 4
Sections:	None	Law School:	UC Hastings COL; San Francisco CA

Status History

Effective Date	Status Change
Present	Disbarred
11/4/2010	Disbarred
12/27/2009	Not Eligible To Practice Law
12/11/1986	Admitted to The State Bar of California

Explanation of member status

Actions Affecting Eligibility to Practice Law

Effective Date	Description	Case Number	Resulting Status
Disciplinary and Related Actions Overview of the attorney discipline system.
11/4/2010	Disbarment	09-C-16599	Disbarred
12/27/2009	Interim suspension after conviction	09-C-16599	Not Eligible To Practice Law
1/10/2008	Discipline, probation; no actual susp.	03-O-03126
Administrative Actions
9/1/2010	Admin Inactive/MCLE noncompliance		Not Eligible To Practice Law
5/28/2010	Suspended/Child & Fam Supp noncompliance		Not Eligible To Practice Law

State Bar Court Cases

NOTE: The State Bar Court began posting public discipline documents online in 2005. The format and pagination of documents posted on this site may vary from the originals in the case file as a result of their translation from the original format into Word and PDF. Copies of additional related documents in a case are available upon request. Only Opinions designated for publication in the State Bar Court Reporter may be cited or relied on as precedent in State Bar Court proceedings. For further information about a case that is displayed here, please refer to the State Bar Court's online docket, which can be found at: http://apps.statebarcourt.ca.gov/dockets/dockets.aspx

DISCLAIMER: Any posted Notice of Disciplinary Charges, Conviction Transmittal or other initiating document, contains only allegations of professional misconduct. The attorney is presumed to be innocent of any misconduct warranting discipline until the charges have been proven.

Effective Date	Case Number	Description
11/4/2010	09-C-16599	Decision [PDF]
12/27/2009	09-C-16599	Order [PDF]
1/10/2008	03-O-03126	Stipulation [PDF]

California Bar Journal Discipline Summaries

Summaries from the California Bar Journal are based on discipline orders but are not the official records. Not all discipline actions have associated CBJ summaries. Copies of official attorney discipline records are available upon request.

November 4, 2010

PAUL ETAN FISHER [#125309], 51, of Newport Beach was summarily disbarred Nov. 4, 2010, and was ordered to comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court.

Fisher pleaded guilty in 2009 to rape by intoxication, oral copulation by intoxication, intercourse with a minor under 16 and committing a lewd act on a child. All four crimes are felonies that involve moral turpitude and thus meet the criteria for summary disbarment.

January 10, 2008

PAUL E. FISHER [#125309], 48, of Santa Ana was suspended for six months, stayed, placed on one year of probation and was ordered to take the MPRE within one year. The order took effect Jan. 10, 2008.

Fisher stipulated that he improperly entered into a business relationship with a client and he continued his employment by the same client by filing a motion for a new trial that lacked merit, making a litigation claim that was not warranted.

Fisher represented a longtime friend who was president and chief operating officer of a billboard/outdoor advertising business. The city of Riverside sued the company for constructing a billboard without a permit; the company claimed city ordinances prohibiting the billboard were unconstitutional. The court ordered the company to dismantle the sign after finding the ordinances were constitutional.

An appellate court upheld part of the finding but remanded the case to the trial court for another trial on one issue. After the second trial, the court again issued an injunction and ordered the sign removed.

In a pleading for a new trial, Fisher said newly discovered evidence had been located. In fact, the evidence was neither new nor recently discovered. It was a zoning change application Fisher himself prepared and submitted, and it was an exhibit in the first trial.

Fisher also accepted several loans totaling $77,400 from his client. Although he advised the client to obtain independent legal advice, he did not disclose the terms of the loans in writing or provide any security. Therefore, the terms of the loans were unfair and unreasonable.

He gave the client a credit of $11,500 for legal services, but did not pay the remainder by the deadline because he was ill and, as a result, suffered financial problems. The client initiated legal action to collect the money and Fisher agreed to pay $70,691 in satisfaction of the remaining $65,000 principal debt.

In mitigation, Fisher has no prior discipline record, he was ill at the time he accepted the loan and filed the motion for a new trial, and he cooperated with the bar’s investigation.