Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Practice/ Code of Judicial Conduct amendments

The Ohio Supreme Court last Friday, Dec. 7th., announced the adoption of reorganized and renumbered Rules of Practice that mirror the flow of a case before the Supreme Court, along with the adoption of several changes to the Code of Judicial Conduct, including an increase in judicial campaign contribution limits that take effect January 1, 2013.

The Court's news service reported "the reorganized Rules of Practice present a more logical ordering of the rules for attorneys and self-represented litigants that is intended to help them locate filing requirements. Many of the changes are clarifying and non-substantive, but there are a few substantive changes. They include:

•Allowing certain documents to be filed by e-mail instead of fax under S.Ct. Prac. R. 3.02(C).
•Adopting rules for cases involving the practice of law to address the procedural and mechanical requirements not specified in the Gov. Bar and Gov. Jud. Rules.

Among the changes the Judicial Rules the service noted are Jud.Cond.R. 4.4(J) and (K) enacting the 5.3 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for campaign contribution limits that occurred over the four-year period since the Supreme Court was last required by the rules to compute the percentage change. See  chart to view the new limits (in green) for individuals, organizations, and political parties according to the primary and general elections and judges’ jurisdictional levels. ( Full text of Code of Judicial Conduct rule changes here )