Wash. Changes RPC

WSBA's Special Committee for the Evaulation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (Ethics 2003 Committee) reports:

By order dated July 10, 2006, the Supreme Court approved the proposed Ethics 2003 amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct. In adopting the amendments, the Court modified the rules as proposed by the WSBA Board of Governors in a number of respects. The amended rules will be effective on September 1, 2006.

As the name indicates, the Ethics 2003 Committee has been at its work for some time. The changes it proposed -- along with comments about the changes and how they follow or vary from the ABA's model rules -- are on the Washington Courts website in a 230-page Word document.

Proposed changes included changes to Rule 3.3, Candor Toward the Tribunal. What do you do if your client wants you to offer false evidence? What if the client wants to testify falsely? What if you believe the client's testimony to be false but you don't know that it is? This is the rule for you.

The Washington Courts website does not yet have the text of the changes adopted last Monday, nor does it have a press release. I'll keep checking. I'm sure we'll see articles in the Washington State Bar News and Bar Bulletin summarizing the changes before they take effect Sept. 1 -- not to mention the mandatory ethics CLE hours everyone has.

Filed in: rules, ethics, RPC