Code of Judicial Administration – Effective June 1, 2023
CJA01-0205. Standing and ad hoc committees (AMEND). Adds members to the Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on Fairness and Accountability.
Month: May 2023
Posted: May 22, 2023
Posted: May 22, 2023
Code of Judicial Administration – Effective November 1, 2023
CJA03-0117. Committee on Court Forms (AMEND). Acknowledges the Committee’s responsibility to review existing forms and assess the need for new court forms, adds new form requirements, including user-testing where practicable, and removes the requirement that the General Counsel conduct a legal review of every form prior to committee approval.
CJA03-0406. Budget and fiscal management (AMEND). Incorporates the role of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee and makes other improvements to clarify the judiciary’s budget process.
Posted: May 17, 2023
Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective May 17, 2023
RPC01.01. Competence. AMEND. Adds comment [9], which states, “Lawyers should be aware that their mental, emotional, and physical well-being may impact their ability to represent clients and, as such, is an important aspect of maintaining competence to practice law and compliance with the standards of professionalism and civility. Resources supporting lawyer well-being are available through the Utah State Bar.”
The ABA has proposed—but not yet adopted—a comment to Rule 1.1 that contains permissive language tying lawyer well-being to competence (See Advisory Committee materials here). The above comment is Utah’s version of the ABA proposal.
The ABA and jurisdictions throughout the country have grappled with the question of how to de-stigmatize the topic of mental health in the legal profession. Utah has taken the bold step of making well-being resources, such as Unmind and Tava Health, readily available through the Utah State Bar.
Comment 9 to Rule 1.1 takes this a step further by explaining the nexus between well-being and lawyer competence. The addition is not meant to be punitive or impose additional requirements or burdens on lawyers. Rather, it is intended to be educational and to point lawyers to the importance of prioritizing their well-being.
Posted: May 3, 2023
Rules of Appellate Procedure – Effective May 1, 2023
URAP008. Stay or injunction pending appeal. Rule 8 is being amended to remove references to specific subparagraphs within Rule 62 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 62 was significantly amended effective November 1, 2021. Those amendments deleted the prior subparagraph (d). Thus, the current reference in Rule 8(b)(1) of the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure to “Rule 62(d) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure” no longer makes sense. To avoid future problems, the Committee also suggests modifying Appellate Rule 8’s subparagraph (c) because it also contains a reference to a specific subparagraph of Civil Rule 62.