D.C. Bar Seeks To Change Bar Counsel’s Name

You won’t get wind of this from the web pages of the District of Columbia Bar or the Court of Appeals, but the Board of Governors has proposed that the court amend its Rule XI by changing the name of the Office of Bar Counsel to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

By letter to Chief Judge Washington dated May 14, 2014, the Board gave three reasons for changing the name that has been used in court opinions and known to the Bar and the public since 1972:

1. “To reflect more accurately the activities of the prosecutorial office of the disciplinary system; “

2. “To resolve the current confusion among the members of the Bar who believe that Bar Counsel is the office that they should contact to advise them about ethical questions; and”

3. “To avoid erroneous service of process on disciplinary authorities perceived to be counsel for the District of Columbia Bar in matters in which the Bar is sued.”

Well.

If you want to avoid confusion, don’t change the name that an Office has been known by for the past 42 years.

It is also well known and made clear to whoever calls Bar Counsel that the office  does not provide ethical advice. That has been so since the 1980s. Any calls are simply referred to the Bar’s Ethics Counsel. Reason #2 is entirely specious. — a solution without a problem.

But it is the third justification that really grabs me –they want to it make it easier to sue the Bar. That doesn’t even pass a laugh test.

I’m not sure what is behind this truly awful idea, but it surely is not for the reasons given by the Board of Governors.

Also, if names of the disciplinary components need to “reflect more accurately” their functions, I can think of several new names that better describe the Board on Professional Responsibility.

And why is this proposal not on the Bar’s web page? (Mike Frisch)