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After nearly two years of work, the court-appointed ethics rules drafting committee delivered its final report and proposed new Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct to the Iowa Supreme Court on July 8, 2002. Thus, the drafting committee's primary work is at an end, and "the ball is now in the Court's court."
In 2000, the Supreme Court appointed members to the Rules of Professional Conduct Drafting Committee. By court order, the committee was charged with preparing "a new ethics framework . . . in Iowa, [with] the Model Rules of Professional Conduct [as] the primary source of that framework."
The committee consisted of a diverse group of lawyers, in respect of location within the state; size of practice; nature of client representation; experiences in the practice of law; and gender, race, and age. The committee was chaired by Sharon Soorholtz Greer of Marshalltown, and Professor Gregory Sisk of the Drake Law School (now at the University of St. Thomas School of Law-Minneapolis) served as reporter. The other members of the committee were: Bruce Braley of Waterloo; David Brown of Des Moines; Michael Byrne of Davenport; John Courtney of Des Moines; John French of Council Bluffs; Christine Luzzie of Iowa City; Iris Muchmore of Cedar Rapids; Judi Whetstine of Cedar Rapids (who replaced former United States Attorney Don Nickerson); Julie Pottorff of Des Moines; Professor Lawrence Raful of the Creighton University Law School; Professor Margaret Raymond of the University of Iowa College of Law; John P. Roehrick of Des Moines; Gary Streit of Cedar Rapids; and Mark Smith of Des Moines.
During the course of its work and deliberations, the committee consistently made draft rules available to the Iowa profession, through posting drafts on an internet web site (which has been visited more than four-hundred (400) times), by notification in the Iowa Lawyer, by distribution of full draft of the proposed Rules through the Iowa State Bar Association annual meeting, by discussion at continuing legal education seminars, and by reports to various bar and professional organizations. The committee repeatedly and widely solicited comments from the profession at large and received many comments and much encouragement, from the leaders of bar sections, from professional associations, and from practitioners. The final proposals reflect the committee's evaluation of those comments.
In its work, the drafting committee especially sought to attain two interrelated goals: clarity and professionalism. First, the committee has striven to draft a set of rules that provide clear guidance to lawyers regarding their professional responsibilities. In so doing, the committee looked to the existing Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility for distinctive provisions that well-describe Iowa practices and standards; to Iowa Supreme Court decisions that shed further light on ethical expectations for lawyers in Iowa; to Iowa Board of Professional Ethics and Conduct opinions for standards that should be preserved or thoughtful suggestions that should be followed; to ethical rules in other states for examples of how other states have departed from the Model Rules as a matter of principle or for greater clarity and guidance to practitioner; to the proposals of the American Bar Association's Ethics 2000 Commission regarding revisions to the Model Rules; and to the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, finalized by the American Law Institute in 1998.
Second, as charged by the Supreme Court, the committee sought to ensure that its proposal includes aspirational guidance as well as mandatory standards for lawyer conduct. The committee enhanced the comments to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct by preparing "Comments and Ethical Considerations" to accompany each rule, which will not only provide further explanation of the mandatory rule but also encourage the highest ideals of practice for lawyers in our state. Many of the provisions of the Ethical Considerations from the Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility were incorporated or adapted into the "Comments and Ethical Considerations" accompanying the rules.
In its final report, the committee stated: "Iowa now has a unique opportunity to enhance its longstanding role as a leader in legal ethics and professional responsibility. The Iowa Supreme Court's vigorous leadership in moving forward toward a new set of professional responsibility rules for Iowa promises to put Iowa a good step ahead of the rest of the country. The Committee believes that the proposed Rules being submitted with this report will be the most current, comprehensive, professional, and progressive set of Rules in the nation. Through our work on this proposal, the Committee hopes that it might have contributed toward maintaining Iowa as a national leader, which is our state's deserved position when it comes to professionalism and ethical practice."
The committee's final report and proposed rules, which bear the date of the committee's final approval on May 15, 2002, were delivered to the Iowa Supreme Court at a special ceremony on July 8, 2002. Chief Justice Louis Lavorato and Justice Linda Neuman thanked all the members of the drafting committee for the hard work devoted to this project over the past two years. Justices Mark Cady, Jerry Larson, and Marsha Ternus also were present. (Printing for the report and proposed rules were made possible by Dean C. Peter Goplerud and the Drake Law School.)
The Iowa Supreme Court has retained the right
to make a final determination of all issues and of final approval
of the proposed rules. With the delivery of the report and proposed
rules to the Court, the matter is now under to the Court's consideration
and subject to such further procedures as the Court determines
are appropriate.
The committee's "Final Report" and the "Proposed Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct" dated May 15, 2002 may be viewed on-line or downloaded in Portable Document Format (PDF) by clicking on the appropriate links set out above.
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| NAME | ||
| Sharon Soorholtz Greer, Chair | sharon@cdrlaw.com | |
| Bruce Braley | braleyb@wloolaw.com | |
| David Brown | dlbrown@hmrlawfirm.com | |
| Michael Byrne | mbyrne@l-wlaw.com | |
| John Courtney | diamondheadhome@aol.com | |
| John French | jmfpeterslaw@hotmail.com | |
| Chris Luzzie | cluzzie@iowalaw.org | |
| Iris Muchmore | imuchmo@simmonsperrine.com | |
| Julie Pottorff | Jpottor@ag.state.ia.us | |
| Prof. Lawrence Raful | raful@creighton.edu | |
| Prof. Margaret Raymond | margaret-raymond@uiowa.edu | |
| John Roehrick | roehrickjd@aol.com | |
| Prof. Gregory Sisk, Reporter | gcsisk@stthomas.edu | |
| Mark Smith | msmith@spd.state.ia.us | |
| Gary Streit | gjs@shuttleworthlaw.com | |
| Judith Whetstine | judi.whetstine@usdoj.gov |
Professor Gregory Sisk
Reporter, Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct Drafting Committee