Public comment sought on rule changes in Ohio

The Supreme Court of Ohio has proposed several changes to both the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) and the Rules of Practice and Procedure. The changes to the latter set of rules involve amendments to Ohio's Rules of Appellate Procedure, Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Juvenile Procedure. Public comments will be accepted until October 15.

Court News Ohio reports that some notable changes to the RPC could include:

• "Requiring lawyers to maintain competency regarding the risks and benefits of technology (Rule 1.1), including making reasonable efforts to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of or access to confidential client information (Rule 1.6)," and
• "Modifying Rules 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 (Lawyer Advertising) to reflect advertising and solicitations that may be made via the Internet and in electronic format."

The same publication also reports some significant potential changes to the Rules of Practice and Procedure, including:

• "New rules (Civ.R. 43 and Juv.R. 41) would allow live open court testimony from a location outside the courtroom," relating to two 2011 amendments to the revised code, and
• "Proposed amendments to App.R. 3, App.R. 9, and App.R. 11.2 address expedited appeals. App.R. 3 provides notification currently lacking in some appellate districts to alert the court that there needs to be a priority disposition in a case. App.R. 9 recognizes that in an expedited judicial bypass appeal from the juvenile court, there is no requirement of a written transcript if an audio recording is available. App.R. 11.2 adds prosecutorial appeals from suppression orders under criminal and juvenile rules to the list of expedited appeals."

For comments on the proposed amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct contact:
Richard A. Dove, Secretary, Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline
Ohio Supreme Court
65 S. Front St., Fifth Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
or
rick.dove@sc.ohio.gov.

For comments on the proposed amendments to the Rules of Practice and Procedure contact:
Jo Ellen Cline, Government Relations Counsel
65 S. Front St., Seventh Floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215
or
j.cline@sc.ohio.gov.