Pennsylvania Attorney Ethics Research: General Information & Ethics Rules

This guide contains links to resources that you can use to research issues of attorney ethics and discipline in Pennsylvania. The materials you can find using this guide include:

• Ethical rules promulgated by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to regulate the profession of law.
• The Model Rules of Professional Conduct published by the American Bar Association. These rules are non-binding, but the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct are largely based on their model counterparts.
• Disciplinary decisions from the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
• Advisory opinions from bar associations that offer guidance to attorneys in interpreting ethics rules. These opinions are non-binding.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has promulgated multiple sets of rules governing the conduct of attorneys as part of its role in administering the practice of law. The Rules of Professional Conduct set the substantive standards for attorney conduct, while the Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement and Disciplinary Board Rules and Procedures (promulgated by the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania) govern the procedures for attorney discipline. Each of these rules has a counterpart that governs ethics and discipline for Pennsylvania state court judges. There is also a non-binding Code of Civility.

Each set of rules is available for free online, but can also be viewed in Westlaw or Lexis. The advantage to viewing the rules in Westlaw or Lexis is that they contain links to citing court decisions, secondary sources, and other materials.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct are published by the American Bar Association. These rules are non-binding, but the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct are largely based on their model counterparts, so materials like comments and advisory opinions that interpret the model rules may be persuasive in interpreting the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct.