{"id":764,"date":"2011-09-01T17:01:34","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T22:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=764"},"modified":"2011-09-01T17:01:34","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T22:01:34","slug":"a-wise-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=764","title":{"rendered":"A Wise Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lawyer jokes exist because almost everyone has had to reach out to an attorney at some time in their life to settle differences, defend their honor, or interpret a legal matter.\u00a0 Attorneys are a part of life.\u00a0 Almost everyone can relate to an experience with a lawyer, and the familiarity and wide scope of services offered by attorneys breeds a fertile playground for jokes. But attorneys take a bad rap.\u00a0 The standard for ethical conduct required of lawyers is the strictest of any profession.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Iowa\u2019s Code of Professional Responsibility<\/span><\/a> for attorneys sets a high bar (no pun intended).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a paralegal, I must know and abide by those same canons listed, with a small departure on the ones that pertain to lawyers only.\u00a0 Because I\u2019m familiar with the integrity of the profession, it came as a shock to me when the Office of Professional Regulation recommended a proposal to allow attorneys to voluntarily suspend their licenses and keep the reasons for doing so a complete secret.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday, August 26, 2011, the Iowa Supreme Court announced that it had considered the recommendation of the Office of Professional Regulation (allowing an attorney to voluntarily suspend his or her license to practice law and keep the information about the suspension confidential).\u00a0 The Court considered the proposal, but rejected it; and rightfully so.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are numerous reasons why an attorney may want to voluntarily suspend a license to practice law.\u00a0 The attorney may want to go into business with a non-lawyer, and the business may border on a legal practice without actually practicing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An attorney may enter into another field of employment and maintaining a law license may be impractical.\u00a0 The attorney may not wish to attend the required continuing legal education, a requirement that could be costly amount to sacrificing several hours of time.\u00a0 Attorneys also have to pay fees to the Client Security Fund.\u00a0 But a lawyer may choose to suspend a license that could have an adverse effect on the public.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A lawyer may choose to suspend his or her license for reasons that the public has a right to know.\u00a0 The most dangerous reason for wanting to keep a voluntary suspension quiet is to avoid publicity of a disciplinary prosecution.\u00a0 The public has a right to know when lawyers are being punished, and for the grounds surrounding that punishment, even if the punishment is a slap on the wrist.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Court made a wise move by rejecting the proposal.\u00a0 We need more transparency in government \u2013 not less.\u00a0 There is no need for those who practice law to be the butt of more jokes.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attorneys are a part of life. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,65],"tags":[274,41,275,273,276],"class_list":["post-764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","category-open-meetingspublic-records","tag-attorneys","tag-iowa-supreme-court","tag-iowas-code-of-professional-responsibility","tag-lawyers","tag-office-of-professional-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":766,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions\/766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}