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On July 1, 2013, the Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct proposed changes to Rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct.\u00a0 The proposed changes would make law firms liable for ethical violations by attorneys as well as nonlawyers employed by the firm.<\/p>\n
Rule 5.1, which governs the responsibility of partners, managers and supervisory lawyers for the acts of other lawyers in their firm, has a new proposed subpart, Paragraph 5.1(d):<\/p>\n
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\u201cA law firm shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that: (1) all lawyers in the firm conform to the Rules of Professional Conduct; and (2) the lawyers in the firm are subject to adequate supervision that is reasonable under the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously, Rule 5.1 required only that partners make<\/p>\n
\u201c[R]easonable efforts to ensure that the firm has in effect measures giving reasonable assurance that all lawyers in the firm conform to the Rules of Professional Conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proposed Comment 9 to Rule 5.1 notes that the proposed new provision is not intended to relieve individuals of their ethical duties and that it will not be substituted for individual discipline.<\/p>\n
Rule 5.3, which governs the responsibilities of lawyers for nonlawyer assistance, has a similar proposed subpart, Paragraph 5.3(d), which reads:<\/p>\n
\u201cA law firm shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that nonlawyers who work for the firm are subject to adequate supervision that is reasonable under the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some lawyers have expressed concern over the proposed changes.\u00a0 The Massachusetts Bar Association recommended that the proposed changes to both rules be rejected.\u00a0 The MBA argues that lawyers are admitted to the bar, not law firms, and suggests that the proposed changes may cause individual lawyers to be blithe in their ethical obligations, as they may assume that the chain of accountability will lead back to the firm, rather than to themselves.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Judicial Court will hear oral argument on the proposed changes on December 18th<\/sup>.\u00a0 If the SJC accepts the proposed changes, the question becomes:\u00a0 What would such changes mean for law firms?\u00a0 Frankly, and hopefully, not a lot. \u00a0Most law firms should already have procedures in place to ensure adequate supervision of lawyers and nonlawyers.\u00a0 What are the best practices to help ensure compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct?\u00a0 For lawyers, firms should consider the following:<\/p>\n It may be difficult to foresee what would be deemed \u201creasonable efforts\u201d under Proposed Rule 5.3 to supervise nonlawyers.\u00a0 But, it would be prudent for law firms to:<\/p>\n Many firms already have adopted some of these procedures.\u00a0 Given the proposed changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct, these procedures should be formalized and lawyers and staff reminded of the seriousness of complying with the Rules of Professional Conduct and the law firm\u2019s commitment to help all of its employees comply with their ethical obligations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On July 1, 2013, the Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct proposed changes to Rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct.\u00a0 The proposed changes would make law firms liable for ethical violations by attorneys as well as nonlawyers employed by the firm. Rule 5.1, which governs the responsibility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":71,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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