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Noting that the last overhaul of the California ethics rules was in 1992, in the early 2000s the State Bar of California formed a Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct tasked with considering intervening changes in the law and the findings of the ABA's Ethics 2000 Commission. [46]
While ethical rules are determined by each state, portions of the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct have been adopted by 49 states. [ 17 ] [ 20 ] All states have some ethical duty of confidentiality in their code of professional responsibility.
In response, the Model Rules consists simply of Rules. [2] According to the Code's Preface, it was derived from the ABA's Canons of Professional Ethics (1908), which in turn were borrowed from the Canons of the Alabama State Bar (1887), which in turn were inspired by several sources such as ethics resolutions in an 1830s legal textbook.
The duty to report misconduct is one of the ethical duties imposed on attorneys in the United States by the rules governing professional responsibility. [1] With certain exceptions, an attorney who becomes aware that either a fellow attorney or a judge has committed an act in violation of the rules of ethical conduct must report that violation.
Hence, the professional rules seem to imply that information gained in connection with the legal retainer is deemed confidential. However, though the rules emphasise the importance of the duty of confidentiality, this is not a hard rule. Not all information connected with the retainer meets the legal test of confidentiality.
Furthermore, the ABA promulgated the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. [24] [25] in 1983; when Maine adopted the model rules in August 2009, California became the only remaining U.S. jurisdiction not to have adopted the model rules in whole or in part. Most states have only minor variations from the model rules, if any.
The Model Rules address many topics which are found in state ethics rules, including the client-lawyer relationship, duties of a lawyer as advocate in adversary proceedings, dealings with persons other than clients, law firms and associations, public service, advertising, and maintaining the integrity of the profession. Respect of client ...
[5] Courts are "highly deferential," indulging a "strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance." [ 6 ] Strickland permits attorneys to make strategic decisions to emphasize one line of defense over another, so long as they are made "after thorough investigation of law and facts ...