THE COURTS
Title 204—JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS
PART V. PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT
[ 204 PA. CODE CH. 82 ]
Proposed Amendment to the Pennsylvania Rules for Continuing Legal Education for Emeritus Status License
[47 Pa.B. 3487]
[Saturday, June 24, 2017]Notice is hereby given that the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board is considering a recommendation to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to amend Rule 105 of the Pennsylvania Rules for Continuing Legal Education (''Pa.R.C.L.E'') regarding a proposed Emeritus status lawyer license. Additions to the text of the rule are shown in bold in Annex A.
In August of 2015, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania requested that the Continuing Legal Education and Disciplinary Boards review proposals from the Pennsylvania, Allegheny County and Philadelphia Bar Associations amend rules for purposes of creating a limited license for attorneys to provide pro bono services to low-income Pennsylvanians. The Boards collaborated to review the proposals and develop a framework for an Emeritus license program. The Board's shared the proposal for the Emeritus program with the Bar Associations and collected input. Based on the input received, the Boards updated the proposal and submitted it to the Supreme Court. The Court has asked the Boards to publish the proposed rules for comment.
The proposed amendment acknowledges continuing legal education requirements for lawyers who possess an Emeritus status law license (per proposed Rule 403 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement (''Pa.R.D.E.''). We note that the Disciplinary Board is issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on this same date with the same comment deadline.
If approved, the newly proposed Emeritus status will create an option for retired lawyers to hold a limited license for the purpose of proving pro bono representation through qualified legal service organizations.
Earlier this year, the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee reported that funding sources to civil legal aid have generally been stagnant or have declined since 2011. Additionally, according to the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, the 75,000 cases handled or referred annually by PLAN represent only about 20 percent of the need.
Support for legal aid can come in many different forms. This proposed amendment to the Continuing Legal Education rules will create another support mechanism to help those in need by expanding the availability of highly qualified pro bono lawyers.
Interested persons are invited to submit written comments regarding the proposed amendments to the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board no later than August 23, 2017. Comments may be submitted to Pennsylvania Judicial Center, 601 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 3400, P.O. Box 62495, Harrisburg, PA 17106-2495, or via email to kbuggy@pacle.org.
By the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education
Board Supreme Court of PennsylvaniaDANIEL LEVERING,
Administrator
Annex A
TITLE 204. JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS
PART V. PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT
Subpart A. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
CHAPTER 82. CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION
Subchapter A. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY Rule 105. Continuing Legal Education Requirement.
* * * * * (c) Every newly admitted attorney shall attend the Bridge The Gap program, of at least four (4) hours, sponsored by an approved Bridge the Gap CLE provider prior to his or her first compliance deadline.
(d) Lawyers with an Emeritus status license shall be subject to the annual CLE requirement.
Subchapter B. CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION BOARD REGULATIONS Section 1. Definitions.
* * * * * CLE—Continuing legal education to be provided under the rules and these regulations.
Emeritus Lawyer—Any lawyer who assumes Emeritus status with the Attorney Registration Office.
Inactive Lawyer—Any lawyer placed on inactive status by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
* * * * * Section 6. Waivers, Extensions and Deferrals.
* * * * * (e) Non-Resident Active Lawyer. There shall be a subclassification of active lawyers available to those lawyers who comply with the following:
* * * * * 6. Upon return to active status from non-resident active, the lawyer will have twelve (12) months to complete the deferred CLE requirements, not to exceed two (2) times the current annual CLE requirement, in addition to the CLE credits required for the current year.
(f) Emeritus Lawyer. Lawyers on Emeritus status shall have no deferred CLE requirement, but must complete the CLE requirement for the period in which Emeritus status is assumed.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 17-1036. Filed for public inspection June 23, 2017, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
