What’s In A Name?
Last month, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals put out a notice seeking comment on a proposed name change for the Office of Bar Counsel.
This court is considering whether to adopt a proposal transmitted by the Board of Governors of the District of Columbia Bar to amend Rule XI of the District of Columbia Rules Governing the Bar, by changing the title of Bar Counsel to “Disciplinary Counsel;” and to make conforming changes to other rules.
I happen to think that this is a lousy idea.
As I said when it was first floated
By letter to Chief Judge Washington dated May 14, 2014, the Board [of Governors] 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.
I do not plan to comment beyond this post because there are so many more substantive problems with the D.C. bar disciplinary system that I no longer care about this particularly pointless change. (Mike Frisch)