Professional Responsibility
California is currently the only state that does not use either set of professional responsibility rules developed by the American Bar Association. California professional responsibility law is divided among California Business & Professions Code Section 6068 (the statutory duties of an attorney), the California Rules of Professional Conduct (CRPC), and a number of uncodified cases. A few of the CRPC rules have clearly been inspired by ABA rules, though. A number of innovations in professional responsibility law have first arisen in California, such as Cumis counsel.
Of all American states, California imposes the strongest duty of confidentiality upon its attorneys. There were no exceptions to the duty until 2004, when Business & Professions Code Section 6068 was amended to add a single discretionary exception to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. The amendment was borrowed from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
Since 2001, the Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of California has been attempting a comprehensive revision of the California rules that would, among other things, convert them into a heavily modified, localized version of the Model Rules. That is, the result would look like the Model Rules, but with appropriate modifications to preserve the substance of existing California rules that better reflect local laws and customs.
However, the Commission's progress has been slow, simply because there are so many substantive and structural differences between the California rules and the Model Rules. The Commission finally finished nearly all the revisions in 2011 and the State Bar Board of Governors ratified them that same year. However, the proposed revisions will not go into effect until also approved by the Supreme Court of California.
Read more about this topic: State Bar Of California
Famous quotes containing the word professional:
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