By Rita C. Aguilar, ABA State Legislative Counsel
Assisted by Cathleen McCarroll, ABA Program Assistant

As the popularity of on-line resources continues to grow, state bars and lawyer disciplinary agencies across the country have begun utilizing the Internet as a tool for posting lawyer disciplinary information on their web sites. The type of information posted on these sites can include disciplinary sanctions, as well as, in some instances, copies of the opinions or orders imposing the discipline.

According to Jim Grogan, President of the National Organization of Bar Counsel, in a world where many people get much of their information from the Internet, this evolving practice can help make information more accessible to the general public and increase public trust and confidence in the legal profession.

The American Bar Association has long supported public access to lawyer disciplinary information. For example, the ABA's Commission on Evaluation of Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement (McKay Commission) stated in their 1992 report, Lawyer Regulation for A New Century Report of the Commission on Evaluation of Disciplinary Enforcement, "All records of the lawyer disciplinary agency except the work product of disciplinary counsel should be available to the public after a determination has been made that probable cause exists to believe misconduct occurred, unless the complainant or respondent obtains a protective order from the highest court or its designee for specific testimony, documents or records." This policy is also set forth in Rule 16 of the ABA Model Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement.

To date, as many as twenty-nine jurisdictions have followed this movement toward electronic communications and maintain an Internet link to lawyer disciplinary information, including: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

 

 

 

The ABA's Center for Professional Responsibility also maintains a directory of lawyer disciplinary agencies.