|
|
| (A) | Pursuant to Section 2(C) of Rule V of the Supreme Court Rules for the Government of the Bar of Ohio, the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline of the Supreme Court of Ohio issues informal, nonbinding advisory opinion letters to members of the Bar and the Judiciary in response to prospective or hypothetical questions regarding the application of the Supreme Court Rules for the Government of the Bar of Ohio, the Supreme Court Rules for the Government of the Judiciary of Ohio, the Code of Professional Responsibility, the Code of Judicial Conduct, or the Attorney’s Oath of Office. Pursuant to Section 102.08 of the Ohio Revised Code and in a manner consistent with Rule V and these regulations, the Board issues advisory opinions regarding the application of Chapter 102. or sections 2921.42 or 2921.43 of the Ohio Revised Code. |
| (B) | The Chair of the Board shall appoint five or more members of the Board to serve on an Advisory Opinion Subcommittee. The Advisory Opinion Subcommittee is a regular standing subcommittee of the Board. The subcommittee shall meet prior to each regularly scheduled Board meeting. The Chair will appoint one subcommittee member to serve as Chair of the Advisory Opinion Subcommittee. Each subcommittee member shall serve for a period of one year from the date of appointment and shall be eligible for reappointment by the Chair. |
| (C) | Requests for advisory opinions shall be submitted in writing to the Secretary of the Board or staff attorney. A letter acknowledging the receipt of the request will be sent to the requester. |
| (D) | The Advisory Opinion Subcommittee reviews requests for advisory opinions. Within its discretion, the subcommittee may accept or decline a request for an advisory opinion. In making such determination the subcommittee strives to select prospective or hypothetical questions of broad interest or importance to the Bar or Judiciary of Ohio and to avoid questions involving the proposed conduct of someone other than the person requesting the opinion, questions regarding completed conduct, questions of law, questions pending before a court, questions that are too broad, questions that lack sufficient information, or questions of narrow interest. |
| (E) | The requester of an advisory opinion will be notified of the subcommittee’s determination to accept or decline a request. |
| (F) | As an alternative to selecting or declining a request, the subcommittee may direct the staff attorney to provide guidance in a staff letter. The staff letter may be based upon past opinions of the Board, the subcommittee’s views, and or other relevant information. A staff letter will contain language to indicate that it is a nonbinding staff letter not an advisory opinion of the Board. |
| (G) | Draft opinions will be researched and prepared by the Board’s legal staff. |
| (H) | Draft opinions will be forwarded to the subcommittee for review approximately three weeks before a Board meeting. The subcommittee will review the draft, make comments or suggestions, and by majority decision approve or disapprove of the draft. |
| (I) | The subcommittee and legal staff will complete the process of researching, drafting, and review as expeditiously as possible, preferably within two to six months after selection of the request. |
| (J) | Each draft opinion approved by the subcommittee will be sent to Board members for review approximately two weeks prior to a Board meeting. Upon review, Board members may direct comments, suggestions, or objections to the Board’s Staff Attorney. |
| (K) | If objections are received, the draft opinion will be placed on the agenda for discussion at the Board meeting. If no objections are received, the draft opinion will be adopted without discussion by majority vote of the Board at the Board meeting. Minor or non-substantive changes are not considered as objections to a draft opinion. |
| (L) | A copy of an adopted opinion will be issued to the requester. Copies of issued opinions will be submitted for publication in the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct, the Ohio State Bar Association Report, and other publications or electronic communications as the Board deems appropriate. Copies of issued opinions will be forwarded to the Law Library of the Supreme Court of Ohio, County Law Libraries, Office of Disciplinary Counsel, local and state bar associations with certified grievance committees. In addition, copies of opinions relating to judges will be forwarded to the Ohio Ethics Commission, Ohio Elections Commission, Ohio Judicial Conference, Ohio Judicial College, Secretary of State of Ohio, and the American Judicature Society. |
| (M) | Issued opinions shall not bear the name of the requester and shall not include the request letter. However, the requester’s name and the request letter are not private and will be made available to the bar, the judiciary, or the public upon request. |
Section 2. Procedure for Maintenance | |
| (A) | A copy of each advisory opinion will be kept in the Board’s offices. |
| (B) | An advisory opinion that becomes withdrawn, modified, or not current will be marked with an appropriate designation to indicate the status of the opinion. |
| (C) | The designation "Withdrawn" will be used when an opinion has been withdrawn by majority vote of the Board. The designation indicates that an opinion no longer represents the advice of the Board. |
| (D) | The designation "Modified" will be used when an opinion has been modified by majority vote of the Board. The designation indicates that an opinion has been modified by a subsequent opinion. |
| (E) | The designation "Not Current" will be used at the discretion of the Board’s attorney staff to indicate that an opinion is not current in its entirety. The designation that an opinion is no longer current in its entirety may be used to indicate a variety of reasons such as subsequent amendments to rules or statutes, or developments in case law. |
| (F) | Other designations, as needed, may be used by majority vote of the Board. |
| (G) | The Advisory Opinion Index will include a list identifying the opinions as "Withdrawn," "Modified," or "Not Current," and other designations as decided upon by the Board. |