Posted: March 2, 2021
Code of Judicial Administration – Effective May 1, 2021
CJA03-0101. Judicial performance standards. (AMEND). Establishes a definition of “submitted” for purposes of the case under advisement performance standard. Clarifies that judges will be considered compliant with education and case under advisement standards if their failure to meet one or both of those standards was due to circumstances outside of the judge’s control.
CJA03-0108. Judicial assistance. (AMEND). Authorizes the presiding officer of the Judicial Council to appoint a district court presiding judge as the signing judge for automatic expungements in all district courts within the presiding judge’s district.
Posted: March 1, 2021
Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective May 1, 2021
Changes merge the attorney Rules of Professional Conduct and the LPP Rules of Professional Conduct into one set of rules. Currently, there are two nearly identical sets of Rules of Professional Conduct for each type of licensee. One set of rules is more efficient and makes changes and updates to the rules simpler and more uniform.
Preamble: A Lawyer’s Responsibilities.
RPC01.00. Terminology.
RPC01.01. Competence.
RPC01.02. Scope of representation and allocation of authority between client and lawyer. Licensed paralegal practitioner notice to be displayed.
RPC01.05. Fees.
RPC04.02. Communication for Persons Represented by Legal Professionals.
RPC06.01. Voluntary Pro Bono Legal Service.
Posted: February 6, 2021
Rules of Appellate Procedure – Effective May 1, 2021
URAP034. Costs. Amend. The amendments to Rule 34: (1) provide a flat rate of $3.00 per page for costs in 34(c)(1); (2) change dates throughout the rule to increments of seven; (3) replace the term “taxed” with “awarded” throughout the rule; (4) comport the rule with Standing Order 11 (regarding filing documents by email); and (5) clean up other language for clarity and consistency.
Posted: February 6, 2021
Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective February 5, 2021, and Rules of Civil Procedure – Effective May 1, 2021
RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
RPC05.07. Responsibilities Regarding Law-Related Services. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT. Brings the rule in line with recent advertising rule amendments by amending Comment [10]. Effective February 5, 2021.
Supreme Court Order for RPC 5.7
RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
URCP065C. Post-conviction relief. AMEND. Addresses service of post-conviction petitions and the underlying court record. Effective May 1, 2021.
Supreme Court Order for URCP 65C
Posted: January 28, 2021
Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules of Appellate Procedure, and Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective May 1, 2021
Rules of Civil Procedure
URCP083. AMEND. The proposed amendments would bring represented parties into the rule’s purview. They would also permit any court to rely on another court’s vexatious litigant findings and order their own restrictions. Paragraph (e)(1) was updated to fix a grammatical error.
Rules Governing Constitutional Challenges
The following amendments to Civil Rule 24,Criminal Rule 12, and Appellate Rule 25A are intended to better coordinate the provisions addressing constitutional challenges. The amendments do the following:
- Address service on the Attorney General and other governmental entities;
- Broaden the kinds of challenges that may arise;
- Clarify that it is the governmental entity that responds, not the county or municipal attorney (which can be a contracted position in certain jurisdictions);
- Eliminate outdated language in Civil Rule 24 in favor of the updated federal language;
- Clarify in each rule the process and timing for the Attorney General or other governmental entity to respond to a constitutional challenge; and
- Eliminate the requirement in Appellate Rule 25A that the Attorney General state the reasons for declining to file an amicus brief.
URCP024 – Redline and URCP024 – Clean
Rules of Professional Conduct
RPC05.04. Professional Independence of a Lawyer. AMEND. Adds a clarifying comment to the rule.
Supreme Court Order for Civil Rules 83 and 24
Supreme Court Order for Criminal Rule 12
Supreme Court Order for Appellate Rule 25A
Supreme Court Order for Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 5.4
Posted: January 25, 2021
Code of Judicial Administration – Effective May 1, 2021
CJA04-0403. Electronic signature and signature stamp use (AMEND). Authorizes judges’ electronic signatures to be automatically affixed to automatic expungement orders.
Posted: January 25, 2021
Code of Judicial Administration – Effective December 5, 2020
CJA04-0202.02. Records Classification (AMEND). Clarifies that all records related to determinations of indigency are private records.
Posted: January 22, 2021
Rules of Professional Conduct of the Rules Governing the Utah State Bar – Effective January 19, 2021
RPC06.05. Short-term Limited Legal Services. AMEND. Broadens the term “short-term legal services” to include one-time consultations and representations through government- and law school-sponsored programs. Further provides that other lawyers in a firm are not disqualified from representing clients whose interests are adverse to a client who received short-term limited legal services from a lawyer in the firm if (1) the lawyer who provided the services is timely screened from the adverse clients’ matters, and (2) receives no fees from those matters.
Posted: December 22, 2020
Code of Judicial Administration – Effective May 1, 2021
CJA03-0201. Court Commissioners (AMEND). Clarifies that both the Council and presiding judges can take corrective actions in response to a complaint or poor performance, and “removal” was added as a possible corrective action.
CJA03-0201.02. Court Commissioner Conduct Committee (AMEND). More clearly defines the committee’s charge and complaint procedures, and creates an appeals process if the Committee dismisses a complaint without a hearing.
CJA03-0301.01. State Court Administrator—Complaints and Performance Review; Complaints Regarding Judicial Officers and State Court Employees (NEW)
Establishes the Management Performance Review Committee, outlines a process for reviewing the performance of the State Court Administrator, and creates an avenue by which complaints regarding the State Court Administrator, judicial officers, and state court employees can be received, reviewed, and investigated.
CJA03-0105. Administration of the Judiciary (NEW). Sets forth the authority of judges, courts, the Supreme Court, and the Judicial Council to administer the functions of the judicial branch. Creates a process by which the Supreme Court and Judicial Council may assess and determine exclusive and predominate authority, and how those two bodies will communicate with each other when issues arise.