Stitt

*618 Opinion

Petitioners seek to disqualify a State Bar hearing officer. There is ample reason for ordering that he be disqualified. Our view is that (1) he should have recused himself; (2) the referee appointed to hear the matter erred when he ruled that petitioners failed to sustain their burden of proof; and (3) the State -Bar itself should have confessed error prior to oral argument in this court.

The issue is whether, in a disciplinary proceeding, a State Bar hearing officer is subject to disqualification when her or his law partner and the attorneys being investigated are opposing counsel in a lawsuit that is unrelated to the disciplinary proceeding. On June 7, one day before oral argument here, the State Bar addressed a letter to this court as follows: “This will advise you that the State Bar Disciplinary Board, at its regularly-scheduled meeting in Los Angeles on June 6, 1978, adopted the following Rule of Practice which is effective immediately:

California Rules of Procedure of the State Bar, rule 7.10, which purports to deal with disqualification generally, is by no means a complete codification of the pre-June 6th rules. 1 Indeed the due process clauses themselves…