ANALYSIS: Lawyers Worry Most About the Profession’s Reputation

Lawyers have undergone some soul-searching in the wake of election fraud cases and the Jan. 6 raid on the US Capitol. So it stands to reason that they chose “maintaining the integrity of the profession” as the legal ethics category most in need of revision, according to a recent Bloomberg Law survey.

The respondents, both in-house and law firm lawyers, also said that they want to see more guidance on artificial intelligence and technology.

The American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which provide the basis for state ethics rules, are divided into eight categories (in addition to a preamble), each comprised of anywhere between three (Counselor) and 18 (Client-Lawyer Relationship) rules.

In Bloomberg Law’s second 2023 State of Practice survey, conducted in June and July, attorneys who said they believe the ABA’s model rule categories need revising overwhelmingly selected “maintaining integrity of the profession” as the leading target for change.

This category includes rules on disciplinary matters (Rule 8.1) and misconduct (Rule 8.4), which have both been implicated in election fraud cases against attorneys such as John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell.

“Lawyer-Client Relationship” came in second place, selected by 41% of the respondents. This, too, is understandable, given that there are 18 model rules under this heading.

What did surprise me was that “Law Firms and Associations” didn’t make the top three. Law-firm ownership (Model Rule 5.4) and remote practice (Model Rule 5.5), two topics that fall under this umbrella, have been at the forefront of a lot of debate within the legal profession for the past several years.

Respondents were also given an option to write in what topics they felt the rules need to address further. “AI” or “technology” was mentioned in 27 out of 40 (68%) of those responses.

Considering the legal’s profession’s Luddite ways, this is no big surprise. But it sends a clear message—and confirms data from an earlier survey—that lawyers are interested in, and want guidance on, keeping up with technology.

But although the survey results show a clear direction from lawyers on what changes they’d like to see, another interesting survey statistic shows some ambivalence about whether lawyers really want change at all.

Of the 447 lawyers who answered a question about whether the ABA’s model rules should be revised in the first place, a plurality (43%) selected “not sure/prefer not to answer.” Only 38% said “yes.”

If such a small segment of attorneys think ethics rules need updating, how engaged will the overall profession be if and when such changes are proposed?

Bloomberg Law subscribers can find related content on our Surveys, Reports, and Data Analysis page, our ABA/Bloomberg Law Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct resource, and our In Focus: Artificial Intelligence page.

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