Professional Responsibility Committee
The Professional Responsibility Committee examines legal ethics issues facing New York City practioners and makes recommendations as to potential changes in the standards that govern the conduct of lawyers. Among other things, the Committee does the following: (1) issues white papers to guide practitioners within a focused practice area (such as the white paper issued last year on the foreign outsourcing of legal services and related ethical issues); (2) sponsors CLEs on various ethics-related topics; (3) comments on pending legislation (for example, last year the Committee joined in a letter to comment on proposed legislation in Albany governing the disclosure of certain information by attorney-legislators); (4) proposes legislation (for example, a bill is currently pending to amend Judiciary Law § 475 on attorney liens); (5) submits amicus briefs (such as a brief the Committee submitted in a federal lawsuit challenging the attorney advertising rules); and (6) proposes new rules or changes to existing rules.
Recent Reports
Comments on the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 proposed amendments to Rules 1.5(e) and 5.4 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (July 2012) ( PDF )
Subject area: Non-Lawyer Ownership in Law Firms
Proposed Amendment to Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4: Regulating Lawyers’ Supervision of Undercover Investigations (June 2011) ( PDF )
Subject area: Undercover Investigations
Comments to ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 on its Choice of Law and Conflicts of Interest Initial Proposal (November 2011) ( PDF )
Subject area: Conflict Rules
For the full list of committee reports click here
Legislative Activity
For more information on the legislative and policy work of the committee, including relevant reports, bill texts and additional advocacy materials, click here.
Related Events
5/16: Current Ethical Issues for In-House Counsel & Those Who Advise Them
5/23: Ethics for Litigators
Chair