Rules Governing the Utah State Bar

USB 14-0704. Qualifications for admission of attorney applicants. Amend. Establishes qualification requirements for applicants from non-approved law schools. Effective July 14, 2011 under Rule 11-105(5). Subject to change after the comment period.
USB 14-0720. Qualifications for admission of house counsel applicants. Amend. Expands house counsel qualifications to include graduation from an unapproved law school that is accredited in the jurisdiction where it exists and that is the substantial equivalent of the legal education provided by an approved law school. Effective July 14, 2011 under Rule 11-105(5). Subject to change after the comment period.
Supreme Court Order
Petition to amend law student assistance rule.
USB 14-0801. Definitions. Amend. Technical amendment.
USB 14-0807. Law student assistance. Amend. Permits certain law school graduates to practice law before admission to the bar under certain circumstances.

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Rules of Criminal Procedure

URCrP 004. Prosecution of public offenses. Amend. Allows prosecutors to add or change charges before trial as long as the substantial rights of the defendant are not prejudiced.

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Rules of Civil Procedure

URCP 004. Process. Amend. Deletes the requirement that a summons published in a newspaper must be in an English language newspaper.
URCP 065C. Post-conviction relief. Amend. Adds appointment of pro bono counsel in accordance with Sections 78B-9-109 and -202.

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Rules of Appellate Procedure

URAP 023B. Motion to remand for findings necessary to determination of ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Repeal. The committee proposes a repeal of rule 23B. The proposal is based on recommendations from both prosecutors and defense counsel. Rule 23B proceedings require significant resources and yet very few proceedings result in a decision being reversed. Repeal of the rule will not prohibit attorneys from raising ineffective assistance claims on appeal or on collateral attack.
URAP 029. Oral argument. Amend. Permits the court to deny oral argument if the appeal is inadequately briefed. If the appeal is inadequately briefed, the court may choose to resolve the appeal on that basis and oral argument would serve no purpose.
URAP 038A. Withdrawal of counsel. Amend. Places the burden on opposing counsel to file the notice to appoint or appear when an attorney withdraws from a case. This will make the practice similar to the practice in trial courts.

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Rules of Civil Procedure

NOTICE FROM UTAH SUPREME COURT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The Civil Rules Committee has been working on extensive amendments to the rules, and particularly the discovery rules, in an effort to reduce the cost and delay of civil litigation. The draft rules were informally published in June 2010, and members of the committee met with lawyers and judges throughout the state to explain the rules and seek comments and suggestions. The informal comment period ended in December 2010.
Since then, the committee has reviewed and discussed all comments, and the draft rules were revised in response to some of them. The most significant changes were to specify “tiers” of standard discovery based on the amount at issue in the litigation and to provide parties with the choice of receiving a report from an opposing expert, or taking a 4-hour deposition of the opposing expert.
The draft rules are now being officially published, and comments will be accepted during the 45-day comment period. The committee will consider all comments received, make further changes to the rules if warranted, and then send its recommendations to the Supreme Court.
The comment deadline is June 21.
URCP 001. General provisions. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 008. General rules of pleadings. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 009. Pleading special matters. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 016. Pretrial conferences. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 026. General provisions governing disclosure and discovery. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 026A. Disclosure in domestic relations actions. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 029. Stipulations regarding disclosure and discovery procedure. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 030. Depositions. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 031. Depositions upon written questions. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 033. Interrogatories to parties. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 034. Production of documents and things and entry upon land for inspection and other purposes. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 035. Physical and mental examination of persons. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 036. Request for admission. w/o redline w/redline
URCP 037. Failure to make or cooperate in disclosure or discovery; sanctions. w/o redline w/redline

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Rules Governing the Utah State Bar

Petition to amend Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection rules AKA Client Security Fund rules.
USB 14-0901. Definitions. Amend. Technical change.
USB 14-0903. Committee membership and terms; Board approval of Committee recommendations. Amend. Technical change.
USB 14-0904. Funding. Amend. Modifies the Fund’s minimum balance provisions and assessment provisions. Provides for suspension of a lawyer’s license in some circumstances until the lawyer reimburses the Fund.
USB 14-0910. Eligible claim. Amend. Establishes new time limits in which to make a claim.
USB 14-0912. Processing claims. Amend. Technical change.
USB 14-0913. Payment of reimbursement. Amend. Establishes a lifetime cap per lawyer. Permits claims to be paid on a pro rata basis if it appears the claims will exceed a lawyer’s annual or lifetime cap.

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Code of Judicial Administration

CJA 03-0109. Ethics Advisory Committee. Amend. Authorizes the committee to interpret statutes, rules, and case law to answer a request for an opinion. Eliminates the committee’s education obligations. Technical changes.

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Rules of Civil Procedure

URCP 064D Writ of garnishment. Amend. Requires the creditor to meet and confer with the garnishee before attempting to impose liability on the garnishee.
URCP 101. Motion practice before court commissioners. Amend. Deletes a paragraph that is incorporated into new Rule 108.
URCP 108. Objection to court commissioner’s recommendation. New. Establishes a procedure for objecting to a court commissioner’s recommendations. Establishes standards of review.

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Rules of Criminal Procedure

URCrP 013. Pretrial conference. Amend. The change makes a defendant’s waiver of the right to appear at a pretrial conference subject to court approval. Occasionally judges want defendants at pretrial conferences because of the substantive issues that are discussed.

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