Posted: January 19, 2022
Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 5, 2022
URJP025A. Withdrawal of Pleas. REPEALED. Rule 25A will be repealed because procedures governing the withdrawal of pleas are contained in Utah Code section 80-6-306.
Posted: January 12, 2022
Rules of Evidence – Comment Period Closed February 26, 2022
URE0412. Admissibility of Victim’s Sexual Behavior or Predisposition (AMEND). The proposed amendment clarifies that the rule is applicable to juvenile delinquency proceedings.
Posted: December 20, 2021
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed February 3, 2022
CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees (AMEND). Creates a Standing Committee on Fairness and Accountability. Amends the membership of the Committee on Resources for Self-represented Parties, the Committee on Model Utah Criminal Jury Instructions, and the Committee on Court Forms.
CJA02-0103. Open and closed meetings (AMEND). Removes the requirement that the AOC send a separate notification to a newspaper of general circulation when the Judicial Council meeting agendas are posted on the Utah Public Notice Website. Clarifies that a Judicial Council meeting may be closed for discussions regarding legal advice of counsel.
CJA03-0420. Committee on Fairness and Accountability (NEW). Outlines the roles and responsibilities of the new Committee on Fairness and Accountability.
CJA04-0903. Uniform custody evaluations (AMEND). Limits the circumstances under which a custody evaluation can be ordered and outlines the training requirements of those who conduct custody evaluations.
Posted: December 7, 2021
Rules Governing Licensed Paralegal Practitioners – Comment Period Closed January 21, 2022
RGLPP15-0703. Qualifications for licensure as a licensed paralegal practitioner. Amend. The proposed amendment to this rule would add relevant subsections for ease of reading, including headings for the “Specialized Course of Instruction requirement,” and the “Substantive Law-Related Experience” requirement. A substantive amendment would also permit academic credit from an Approved Law School or Accredited Program or School to count toward an applicant’s substantive law-related experience hours requirement, which would be capped at 750 hours or half the 1,500 hours requirement.
RGLPP15-0701. Definitions. Amend. The amendments may be summarized as follows:
- Add clarification to the scope of an LPP’s practice within family law to include common law marriage as well as name and gender change (there is a coordinating amendment in USB Rule 14-802(c));
- Create a definition for “Specialized Course of Instruction” referenced in admissions Rule 15-703;
- Omit unnecessary language in paragraph (ee) related to supervision by a licensed lawyer, paralegal, or law student; and
- Create a new definition in paragraph (gg) for “Substantive Legal Course.”
USB14-0802. Authorization to practice law. Amend. The proposed amendment adds clarification to the scope of an LPP’s practice within family law to include common law marriage as well as name and gender change (there is a coordinating amendment in LPP Rule 15-701).
Posted: December 2, 2021
Rule of Appellate Procedure – Comment Period Closed January 16, 2022
URAP025. Amicus curiae briefs. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 25: (1) modify the language throughout to rule to mirror the federal rule; (2) incorporate the language from Rule 50 regarding amicus curiae briefs; (3) allow an amicus curiae brief to be filed without leave of court if all parties have consented to its filing; (4) provide a word count length requirement; (5) change the due date from 21 days to 14 days in 25(d); (6) added language in 25(g) addressing responsive briefs; and (7) clean up other language for clarity and consistency.
Posted: November 18, 2021
Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Comment Period Closed January 2, 2022
URJP008. Rights of minors while in detention. Repealed. Rule 8 will be repealed because it is superseded by Utah Code sections 80-6-205 and 80-6-206 that address the rights of minors while in detention.
Posted: November 8, 2021
Rules of Professional Conduct – Comment Period Closed December 23, 2021
RPC05.05. Unauthorized Practice of Law; Multijurisdictional Practice of Law. Amend. Clarifies that a non-Utah lawyer who is living in Utah may provide legal services remotely to clients in a jurisdiction where the lawyer is admitted. The lawyer must not establish a public-facing office nor hold out to the public or otherwise represent that the lawyer is admitted to practice law in this jurisdiction.
RPC01.00. Terminology. Amend. Defines a public-facing office as an office that is open to the public and provides a service that is available to the population in that location.
Posted: October 21, 2021
Supreme Court Rules of Professional Practice – Comment Period Closed December 5, 2021
CJA11-0510. Ethics and Discipline Committee composition. Amend. The proposed changes would allow the Ethics and Discipline Committee to recruit up to eight public members and up to 25 lawyer members, with the minimum required numbers of members remaining at four and 21, respectively. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that the Committee has a sufficient number of individual members to attend screening panel hearings of disciplinary matters. The proposed changes also allow the Committee to have three to four Committee vice chairs, rather than always requiring four vice chairs.
CJA11-0511. Screening panel composition; responsibilities. Amend. The first proposed change reflects the allowed increase in the overall size of the Ethics and Discipline Committee’s four screening panels but retains the requirement that a maximum of one public member and four lawyer members will attend screening panel hearings. The second proposed change provides that screening panel hearings must have five screening panel members, including the panel chair or vice chair and one public member. Consent by the parties to a lower number of screening panel members is no longer allowed. The final proposed change allows the screening panel chair to vote on panel determinations.
CJA11-0513. Committee clerk. Amend. The proposed change applies the immunity provisions of Rule 11-540 to the Committee clerk. The immunity provisions previously were not expressly applicable to the clerk.
CJA11-0591. Reinstatement following a suspension of more than six months; relicensure. Correction. The proposed change clarifies that, unlike a petition for relicensure, a petition for reinstatement need not be accompanied by a report and recommendation from the Bar’s Character and Fitness Committee.
Posted: October 20, 2021
Rules of Civil Procedure – Comment Period Closed December 4, 2021
URCP005. Service and filing of pleadings and other papers. AMEND. The proposed amendments would make email service the default method of service and eliminate the certificate of service requirement when a paper is served by filing it with the court’s electronic-filing.
URCP076. Notice of contact information change. AMEND. The proposed amendments to Rule 76 would coordinate with the Rule 5 amendments by clarifying the purposes for which updated contact information is provided to the court.