Supreme Court

Corrected Final Approval of Disciplinary Rules Amendments

In the Court's August 28, 2018, order (Miscellaneous Docket Order No. 18-9112) the Court noted:

Rule 2.12 has been reorganized and stylistic changes have been made throughout the rule.
Rule 2.12(B) has been revised to require the chair of the District Grievance Committee to authorize an investigatory subpoena — rather than the chair of an investigatory panel—even if an investigatory hearing has already been set. Paragraph (B) has also been revised to authorize an investigatory subpoena for information or testimony “that relates directly to a specific allegation of attorney misconduct”. These changes track the requirements of Government Code section 81.080(a),
Rule 12(D) has been revised to clarify that both the respondent and the witness (if the witness is not the respondent) may object to an investigatory subpoena and that objections must be in good faith.
2.12(E) has been revised to state that if the chief disciplinary counsel pursues enforcement of a subpoena in district court:

the respondent or the witness may raise any good-faith objection to the subpoena;

if the district court finds that a person’s objection or noncompliance is in bad faith, the court may award costs and attorney fees to the chief disciplinary counsel;

the district court’s order is not subject to appeal; and

the chief disciplinary counsel must not consider a respondent’s good-faith objection to an investigatory subpoena as grounds for just cause.

The introductory paragraph to Rule 17 has been revised to clarify that an investigatory panel member may not be assigned to an evidentiary panel for the same case.
Stylistic changes have been made to Rule 17(H) to conform to analogous language in Rule 2.12.
Former Rule 10 (Imposition of sanctions) has been deleted because its substance is replaced by Part XV. The rest of Part III has been renumbered.
Typographical mistakes have been corrected.

Amendments before comments can be seen in Miscellaneous Docket No. 18-9031:

¶ The amendments apply to a grievance filed after June 1, 2018, regardless of when the conduct subject of the grievance occurred. A grievance filed before June 1, 2018, will be governed by the rules in effect at that time.