Ms. Burke Spencer’s Publications
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Who is entitled to fee-based sanctions awards in contingent fee cases – lawyer or client?
It is not uncommon in the course of civil litigation, particularly in discovery disputes, for one party to be ordered to pay another party monetary sanctions that are calculated based on the attorney’s fees and costs incurred in connection with a motion or proceeding…. [Download PDF]
Ethical Enforcement of Attorney’s Liens – Avoiding Traps for the Unwary
Noting the mischief and leverage over a client’s funds that even a false notice of attorney’s lien gives an attorney, the Court of Appeal in Carroll v. Interstate Brands Corp., 99 Cal. App. 4th 1168, 1178 (2002) called on the legislature to adopt statutory procedures for the expeditious resolution of attorney’s liens. Ten years later, no such statutory procedures have been provided. Much of the “mischief” feared by the Carroll court, however, can be avoided if an attorney abides…. [Download PDF]
Suzanne Burke Spencer
Suzanne Burke Spencer is the managing shareholder of Sall Spencer Callas &Krueger, a
business litigation firm in Laguna Beach, California. She practices in the areas of
professional malpractice and attorney ethics as well as complex business and real estate
litigation, including legal malpractice, partnership and business disputes, real estate and
foreclosure, derivative actions, unfair business practices, contract disputes, and attorney
fee and lien disputes. Ms. Burke Spencer has authored or contributed to numerous
articles relating to professional responsibility and attorney ethics. Ms. Burke Spencer has
frequently lectured on attorney fees disputes, legal ethics and risk management in public
and private seminars. Ms. Burke Spencer was named by the Daily Journal in 2022,
2023, 2024 and 2025 among California’s Top Professional Responsibility Lawyers.
Ms. Burke Spencer was appointed to the California State Bar’s Committee on
Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC) commencing October 2012, and
served as Chair from 2016-17. She is also co-chair of the Orange County Bar
Association’s Professionalism and Ethics Committee and a member of the OCBA
Civility Task Force and former Chair (2024-2026) of and Advisor for the California
Lawyers Association Ethics Committee. Ms. Burke Spencer is also Chair of the Standing
Committee on Discipline for the United Stated District Court, Central District of
California and former member of the Board of Directors (2022-2024) for the Orange
County Association. Among the articles Ms. Burke Spencer has authored are Ethical
Enforcement of Attorney’s Liens – Avoiding Traps for the Unwary, California Bar
Journal, July 2013; Who is entitled to fee-based sanctions awards in contingent fee cases
– lawyer or client?, California Bar Journal, March 2014; The price of withdrawal:
Contingency fee attorneys may forfeit certain fees, California Bar Journal, April 2015;
How Will California’s New Rule Permitting Ethical Screening Impact Law Firm
Disqualification? Orange County Lawyer, July 2018, Vol. 60 No. 7 and Proposed Rule
4.1: A New Disciplinary Rule Prohibiting Attorney Misrepresentations to Third Parties,
Daily Journal, April 22, 2018.
Ms. Burke Spencer is an undergraduate of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. and
received her J.D. from Fordham Law School, New York, New York, where she served as
a staff member and an Associate Editor of the Fordham Law Review. She is admitted to
practice before all state and federal courts in California, New York, Connecticut and
Massachusetts. She is native of New Jersey who relocated to California in 1995 and has
lived and worked here ever since.