Posted: March 5, 2019
Rule Establishing Oversight Committee for the Office of Professional Conduct – Comment Period Closed April 19, 2019
CJA11-0501. Oversight Committee for the Office of Professional Conduct. New. Establishes a Supreme Court oversight committee for the Office of Professional Conduct (OPC). Includes membership, committee member terms, meeting schedule, and committee purposes and responsibilities.
I am not sure I understand why we need this….
Purportedly, the Utah State Bar exists to protect the public and improve the quality of the practice of law. Really, like all regulatory agencies, the Bar exists to grow the power and reach of the Bar. This is but the latest example of the expansion of the Bar’s reach. It is constantly adding more requirements to practice law and adding more bureaucratic oversight without providing any additional material benefits to the legal community or the public. It would be nice to see a proposal once in a while peeling back senseless regulations instead of increasing them.
The Rule is a result of the ABA audit of the Utah disciplinary system. That report can be found here:
https://www.utcourts.gov/resources/reports/docs/ABA-OPC_Report.pdf
The minutes of the first meeting of the Supervisory Committee can be found here:
https://www.utcourts.gov/utc/oclp/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2019/02/OCLP-Agenda-20190205.pdf
Apparently there was a committee, with monthly meetings since 2017, which considered the ABA report. Its recommendations include those embodied in the proposed Rule. I have not located any minutes or documents from that committee.
The proposal should be approved. It will improve both supervision of and the performance of OPC.