Bruce Reuben Fink - #47788

This member is active and may practice law in California.

See below for more details.

Copies of official attorney discipline records are available upon request.

Explanation of common actions

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.

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.

May 4, 2008

BRUCE REUBEN FINK [#47788], 70, of Orange was suspended for one year, stayed, placed on two years of probation and was ordered to take the MPRE within a year. The order took effect May 4, 2008.

While sitting as a judge pro tem in Los Angeles, Fink heard a petition in which one of the parties was an illegal alien. In the mistaken belief that he was required to report the individual to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, he advised the person to leave the courtroom and avoid being removed by the bailiff. Fink subsequently discussed the case on a radio program.

He stipulated that he failed to comply with a canon of the Code of Judicial Ethics that requires judges to act in a manner that preserves public confidence in their integrity and impartiality.

In mitigation, Fink cooperated with the bar’s investigation, presented numerous letters attesting to his good character and acted in good faith, believing he was helping a litigant avoid the possibility of deportation.

He was privately reproved in 1982.