Back in November 2023 I reported that the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee held a meeting to discuss a number of proposals, including one to adopt a rule based on Model Rule 8.4(g). You can read my comments about the hearing and the proposal here.
Yet, I had not seen anything about the proposal since then. So, I was very surprised when I read in Faughnan on Ethics that the proposed amendment was officially adopted and that the new rule would go into effect in July. See here.
I say I was surprised not because I was surprised to hear that the new rule was adopted but because I have not seen it reported anywhere here in Illinois!
If you are a long time reader of this blog you know that I have criticized the Model Rule and the versions of the rule adopted in some other jurisdictions for being vulnerable to attack under First Amendment principles. The adopted language in both the rule and its comment in Illinois is not as robust as the rule adopted in New York, but it is not bad.
The original proposal included explicit language in the text of the rule itself stating that the rule would not apply to Constitutionally protected speech or conduct. Unfortunately, that language was deleted from the rule and moved to the comment.
Another issue with the adopted language is that while the text of the rule states that it is limited to conduct "in the practice of law", the explanation of what "in the practice of law" means included in the comment is the same used in the ABA Model Rule's comment to describe conduct "related to the practice of law" which is a broader concept.
We will have to wait and see how the rule is applied and interpreted, and whether it will get challenged as others have in other jurisdictions.
The new Illinois Rule appears in Rule 8.4(j). You can see a redline version here, and a clean version here.
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