December 2018 – Utah Court Rules

Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective December 19, 2018

RPC07.05. Firm Names and Letterheads. Amend. Comment [1] is amended to conform to current practice, which is to allow the inclusion of both retired and deceased partners’ names in firm names if there has been a continuing succession in the firm’s identity such that the firm name has become a trade name.

RPC08.04. Misconduct. Amend. Comment [1a] is amended in response to In re Discipline of Steffensen, 2018 UT 53, Footnote 7, to eliminate confusion as to what sanctions may be applicable for a violation of Rule 8.4. The comment now provides that an act of professional misconduct under Rule 8.4(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), or (h) cannot be counted as a separate violation of Rule 8.4(a) for the purpose of determining sanctions. Conduct that violates other Rules of Professional Conduct, however, may be a violation of Rule 8.4(a) for the purpose of determining sanctions.

Supreme Court Order

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective January 1, 2019

CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees.
AMEND – Adds a member of the Utah Indigent Defense Commission to the Utah Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on Pretrial Release and Supervision.
AMEND – Adds a court commissioner to the Utah Judicial Council Standing Committee on Court Forms.

CJA04-202.02. Records Classification.
AMEND – Classifies abstracts of juvenile court judgments filed in district court as “private” court records.

CJA04-508. Guidelines for Ruling on Motion to Waive Fees.
AMEND – Makes the Standing Committee on Court Forms responsible to approve the motion and affidavit to waive fees forms (previously the responsibility of the Board of District or Juvenile Court Judges).

CJA Appendix I. Summary of Classification of Court Records.
AMEND – Change classification of “Criminal Investigations” case type from “Protected” to “Public unless otherwise ordered.”

Judicial Council Order