Francis Bassios, 59;Drew Up Discipline System for Lawyers

Francis P. Bassios, 59, an architect of the discipline system for California lawyers, died Saturday in Oakland of lung cancer.

Born in Worchester, Mass., Bassios earned a degree in history and government from Boston University, served in the Army and then received his law degree from Hastings School of Law in 1972. After a year with the San Francisco district attorney’s office, he became the top assistant to the State Bar’s chief prosecutor. He worked for nearly 20 years to develop policies on attorney regulation and discipline.

In 1988, when the Legislature demanded that lawyers respond to consumer complaints, he helped scrap the bar’s voluntary discipline program and set up an independent trial court, called the State Bar Court. He also added full-time investigators, prosecutors and a toll-free telephone number for complaints.

Bassios spent the last two years as special assistant to the bar’s executive director, Judy Johnson, restructuring member services, continuing legal education and specialization. In February he received the National Assn. of Bar Counsel’s lifetime achievement award for his work in attorney discipline.