A. ABA Model Rules and Codes

1. Model Rules of Professional Conduct, (2007 edition)
Adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in 1983 to serve as a national model of professional standards governing the practice of law. Amended in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007.

The current edition of the ABA Model Rules is located at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/mrpc_toc.html

Note: The ABA Model Rules were recently amended pursuant to a series of proposals put forth by the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission (E2k) in February 2002, the Multijurisdictional Practice Commission (MJP) in August 2002 and the Task Force on Corporate Responsibility in August of 2003.

The full text of the Model Rules with the E2k amendments and the official Reporter's comments on each Rule are located at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/e2k/

The full text of the MJP amendments are located at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mjp/201c.doc
http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mjp/201b.doc

The Report of the Task Force on Corporate Responsibility is located at http://www.abanet.org/buslaw/corporateresponsibility/home.html

Amendments to Rules 1.6 and 1.13 as adopted by the ABA House of Delegates are available here: http://www.abanet.org/leadership/2003/2003journal.pdf

2. Model Code of Professional Responsibility, (1986 edition)
As the predecessor to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the Model Code served as the national model of professional standards governing the practice of law from 1969 to 1983. This book also contains the ABA 1972 Code of Judicial Conduct.

3. Model Code of Judicial Conduct, (2007 edition)
Adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in August 1990 to serve as a national model of ethical standards to be observed by judges. Amended 1997

B. ABA Annotated Model Rules, Code, and historical notes

1. Annotated Model Rules of Professional Conduct (2007 edition)
Consists of the Model Rules and legal background notes analyzing case law, opinions, law review articles and legal treatises.

2. Annotated Model Code of Judicial Conduct (2004 Edition)
Consists of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct and annotations analyzing case law, opinions, law review articles and legal treatises.

3. Compendium of Professional Responsibility Rules and Standards (2008 edition) Consists of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the Model Code of Professional Responsibility, the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, the 1908 Canons of Professional Ethics and 7 other sets of ABA model standards.

4. Model Code of Judicial Conduct (2007 edition)

5. Thode, Reporter's Notes to 1972 Code of Judicial Conduct
Consists of the Code of Judicial Conduct, historical notes, and comment.

6. Milord, The Development of the ABA Judicial Code
Consists of discussion of and historical notes about the 1990 Model Code of Judicial Conduct, and reprints of the 1972 Code of Judicial Conduct and the 1924 Canons of Judicial Ethics.

7. A Legislative History: The Development of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct: 1982-2005 Traces the development of the Model Rules in the House of Delegates, including amendments made and arguments advanced in support of and in opposition to those amendments.

8. The Digest of Judicial Ethics Advisory Opinions, American Judicature Society, 1991. Contains digests of judicial ethics opinions state by state.

9. Maru, Digest of Bar Association Ethics Opinions, American Bar Foundation, 1970. A compilation of digests of ABA and state ethics opinions. There are three supplements to this Digest which are dated 1970, 1975 and 1980. The 1980 supplement has a cumulative index for all four volumes.

C. Opinions issued by the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility

Complimentary copies of ABA Ethics Opinions are available to ABA members one year after the date of their release on the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility website. Members of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility have free access to ABA Formal Opinions from 92-364 up through the most recently issued Opinion. These same Opinions are also available for purchase at $7.50 per copy. Links to these resources are available at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/pubs/ethicopinions.html

All ABA ethics opinions are available in the following bound volumes; most opinions are also available from the ABA Library on WESTLAW and Lexis.

1. Opinions on Professional Ethics
Contains Formal Opinions 1 through 315 issued from 1924 to 1965. This volume also contains the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics that were adopted in 1908 and the Canons of Judicial Ethics that were adopted in 1924.

2. Informal Ethics Opinions: Volume 1
Contains Informal Opinions 230 through 866 issued from 1961 to 1966.

3. Informal Ethics Opinions: Volume 2
Contains Informal Opinions 867 through 1284 issued from 1966 to 1973.

4. Formal and Informal Opinions (1967-1982)
Contains Formal Opinions 316 through 348 issued from 1967 to 1982. Contains Informal Opinions 1285 through 1495 issued from 1974 to 1982.

5. Formal and Informal Opinions (1983-1998)
Contains Formal Opinions 84-349 through 98-412 issued from 1983 to 1998. Contains Informal Opinions 83-1496 through 89-1530 issued from 1983 to 1989.

6. Recent Ethics Opinions
Contains Formal and Informal Opinions issued from 1998 to present, beginning with Formal Opinion 98-413. This volume also contains a citator to formal and informal ABA ethics opinions by opinion, and citators to the Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the Model Rules of Professional Conduct for all ABA formal and informal ethics opinions.

D. ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct

This loose-leaf subscription service consists of several volumes: the Reference Manual, the Current Reports, the transfer binders of Ethics Opinions from 1980-85, 1986-1990, 1991-1995, 1996-2000 and 2001-2005 and the transfer binders containing Current Reports and serves as a resource for three different types of materials:

1. The substantive state of the law on professional responsibility with discussion of applicable ethical standards, opinions, law review articles and case law (in Reference Manual).

2. Full text of ABA model standards and recent ABA opinions. Digests of ethics opinions issued by state and local bar associations (in Reference Manual).

3. Recent developments in the field of professional responsibility including opinions, case law and reports of conferences and law reviews (in Current Reports).

Further information about the Lawyers' Manual is available on the Bureau of National Affairs website which is located here: http://www.bna.com

E. Citator

Shepard's Professional and Judicial Conduct Citations (issued quarterly). This citator shepardizes the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the Model Code of Professional Responsibility and state versions of both the Rules and the Code. It also shepardizes ABA formal and informal ethics opinions.

F. Treatises

Rotunda & Dzienkowski, Legal Ethics: The Lawyer's Deskbook on Professional Responsibility, West Publishing Co. (2007-2008)

Morgan, Lawyer Law: Comparing the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct with the ALI Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers, ABA Center for Professional Responsibility (2005).

Vairo, Rule 11 Sanctions: Case Law, Perspectives and Preventive Measures, American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility and Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (2004)

Hazard & Hodes, The Law of Lawyering, Aspen Law & Business (2005)

Shaman, Lubet and Alfini, Judicial Conduct and Ethics, The Michie Company (3d ed. 2000)

Wolfram, Modern Legal Ethics, West Publishing Co. (1986)

G. Websites, Listservs

1. http://www.abanet.org/cpr

ABA Center for Professional Responsibility. This site contains information about the current activities of the various ABA Committees and initiatives that are affiliated with the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility. These include the ABA Standing Committees on Professional Responsibility, Professional Discipline, Professionalism and Client Protection. There is also information posted regarding the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission, the Multijurisdictional Practice Commission, and the Joint Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct.

This site also has a links page to the various state rules of professional conduct and ethics opinions that is available at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/links.html

2. http://www.legalethics.com

This site posts current developments in legal ethics, and also has links to state bar association home pages and state rules of professional conduct.

3. http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/legalethics

The Washburn University law school library maintains a listserv that concentrates on ethics and professional responsibility. For subscription information, send an e-mail to the following address: server@lawlib.wuacc.edu

4. http://www.nobc.org


This is the National Organization of Bar Counsel's website. This has information about the NOBC as well as extensive casenotes regarding current developments in ethics and professional discipline.

H. Other Materials

Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, American Law Institute, Philadelphia, Pa.

Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Georgetown University School of Law, Washington, D.C.