Posted: December 3, 2020
Rules of Professional Conduct – Comment Period Closed January 17, 2021
Proposed 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.
RPC01.00. Terminology.
RPC01.01. Competence.
RPC01.02. Scope of representation and allocation of authority between client and lawyer.
RPC01.05. Fees.
RPC04.02. Communication with persons represented by legal professionals.
RPC06.01. Voluntary pro bono legal service.
A sentence in proposed Rule 6.01 reads “A lawyer should aspire to render at least 50 hours of pro bono publico legal services per year, except that a licensed paralegal practitioner should aspire to render 30 hours of pro bono publico services per year.” The phrase “except that” should be replaced with “and.” The phrase “except that” would be proper if a licensed paralegal practitioner were a type of lawyer, but a licensed paralegal practitioner is not a lawyer. A similar correction should be made in the associated Comments.
Rule 1.0(d) and comment [3] seem to include offices of government lawyers as a firms. Rule 1.10(f) says exactly the opposite. Perhaps comment [3] should reference Rule 1.10(f).