Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Regional Attorneys' Manual
  3. C. ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct

C. ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct

The great majority of jurisdictions have adopted some version of the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and although federal law controls the ethical standards of attorneys in federal court, see Kitchen v. Aristech Chemical, 769 F. Supp. 254, 258 (S.D. Ohio 1991) (citing In re Synder, 472 U.S. 634, 645 n.6 (1985)), courts often apply the ethical rules and standards adopted by the state in which the court sits. See Restatement (Third) of The Law Governing Lawyers § 1 cmt. b (2000) ("Federal district courts generally have adopted the lawyer code of the jurisdiction in which the court sits, and all federal courts exercise the power to regulate lawyers appearing before them."). * Accordingly, EEOC attorneys should familiarize themselves with the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as well as the ethics rules governing attorneys in the jurisdictions in which they are admitted and in which they practice.


* A number of federal courts have adopted the American Bar Association's Model Federal Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement (1978), which deal principally with the grounds and procedures for imposing discipline on lawyers admitted to federal courts, but also provide (in Rule IV B) that except as otherwise provided by a specific court rule, the federal court adopts as Rules of Professional Conduct the Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the highest court of the state in which the court sits.