Illinois Supreme Court Adopts Rules of Professional Conduct of 2010
The Illinois Supreme Court today adopted a number of new ethics rules that will take effect Jan. 1, 2010. The Court adopted the new Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers who practice in the state following an extensive evaluation process that began in 2002.
Representing thousands of hours of work by judges, lawyers and legal ethics scholars, the new rules govern a broad range of lawyers’ conduct as well as commentary that demonstrates the purpose of each rule and a guide for their interpretation.
“With their adoption, the rules governing the legal profession in Illinois come into phase with how the practice of law has changed over time, with once local law firms growing globally and with issues arising from the growing complexity of the practice, our culture and our world,” said Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald in a statement regarding the Court’s adoption of the new rules.
The new Rules can be viewed on the website of the Illinois Supreme Court.
The previous rules date back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. Robert Clifford wrote about the rule changes in a column in May, 2008, in the Chicago Lawyer magazine.
