HOW TO FIND THE RULES FOR LAWYERS AND JUDGES

Whether one calls it legal ethics, professional responsibility, or judicial conduct, it amounts to the rules for lawyers and judges. You can find everything you need in this area of practice on Westlaw®.

Current Rules

If you need to brush up on the current rules of professional conduct for attorneys for the state in which your court sits, access the court rules database for that state (XX-RULES, where XX is the two-letter postal abbreviation for the state).

For example, to retrieve the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, access the Illinois Court Rules database (IL-RULES) and search for the abbreviation rpc in the citation field (ci): ci(rpc).

EDITOR'S NOTE: The abbreviations for a set of rules may vary from state to state. Check Scope for the relevant database for the correct abbreviation.

ABA Model Rules

If you want to compare the rule in a particular state with the American Bar Association (ABA) model rules, access the ABA Annotated Model Rules of Professional Conduct database (ABA-AMRPC) and search for the rule number in the caption field (ca), e.g., ca(3.3).

To retrieve rules pertaining to a specific topic, search for your terms in the title field (ti), e.g., ti(candor).

Opinions and Interpretations

Many states have standing bodies that issue explanations of the various rules of conduct. For example, the California State Bar has a Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct, whose opinions are contained in the California Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility–Ethics Opinions database (CAETH-EO). To retrieve opinions that discuss communications by counsel, access CAETH-EO and type ti(communicat! /p counsel).

To retrieve articles about ethics from the ABA Journal, which may also be helpful, access the ABA Journal database (ABAJ) and search for the abbreviation eth in the index field (in) and add relevant terms, e.g., in(eth) & communicat! /p opposing /s party.

For additional legal ethics and professional responsibility databases, see the chart of selected databases inside. You can also consult the Westlaw Directory. Click Directory at the top of any page. Click Topical Practice Areas; then click Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility.