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About Regulation Counsel
The District of Columbia Bar’s Office of Regulation Counsel manages programs and services that provide prospective direction, guidance and assistance to attorneys and their clients. These confidential non-disciplinary services include the Attorney/Client Relations Program, consisting of the Attorney/Client Arbitration Board and the Clients’ Security Fund (CSF); the Lawyer Assistance Program (LAP), the Legal Ethics Committee (LEC); the Practice Management Advisory Service (PMAS), and the Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee (Rules Review Committee). With the exception of the ACAB, all of the services are free to Bar members, D.C. law students and D.C. judges. In addition, the department coordinates the functions of other committees as assigned by the D.C. Bar Board of Governors (BOG).

To ensure that the disciplinary system in the District of Columbia continues to be as efficient, effective, and fair as possible, the BOG, in September 2003, formed the Disciplinary System Study Committee (DSS Committee) to study the disciplinary system and recommend changes to Rule XI of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Rules Governing the Bar. After receiving a comprehensive report from the DSS Committee, coupled with comments from the Board on Professional Responsibility, the Office of Bar Counsel, and Bar members, the D.C. Court of Appeals adopted changes to Rule XI intended to streamline and improve the effectiveness of the disciplinary system. Among the key changes are a negotiated discipline process, expedited reinstatement, and suspension pending final court action for serious cases of misconduct. The changes took effect on August 1, 2008. See the report and recommendations and amended Rule XI online.

In January 2005, the Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee completed its review of the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission's amendments and presented its Report and Recommendations about proposed revisions to the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct to the BOG. After conclusion of the Bar’s public comment period, extensive review by the BOG, and conclusion of the Court of Appeals' public comment period on the proposed amendments to the D.C. Rules, the Court adopted amendments to the Rules in the most comprehensive revision to the Rules since they first became effective on January 1, 1991. The amended Rules became effective February 1, 2007. See the amended rules online.

To assist members in complying with the amended Rules of Professional Conduct, the D.C. Bar Legal Ethics Committee, in collaboration with the Rules Review Committee, identified 22 opinions previously issued by the Legal Ethics Committee that were substantively affected by the Rules changes. Jointly, the committees published a table of those opinions available to the Bar's Web site and as part of its rules subscription service. See the table of affected legal ethics opinions online.

Services include:

Attorney/Client Arbitration Board
Clients' Security Fund
Lawyer Assistance Program
Legal Ethics
Practice Management Advisory Service
Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee

Volunteering
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