The Law Governing Lawyers

Disciplinary Orders

A disciplinary order is an order of the State Bar’s Grievance Committee, the State Bar’s Disciplinary Hearing Commission, a state court, or a federal court imposing professional discipline.  Such orders may result in disbarment, reprimand, suspension, or censure.

Summaries of Disciplinary Orders will be published on a timely basis following their release from the State Bar in order to provide the North Carolina legal community with an accessible way to stay abreast of ongoing challenges faced by the legal profession.  You can subscribe to the Disciplinary Order summaries here.

Disciplinary Orders prior to October 2013 may be searched by attorney name or keyword on the North Carolina State Bar website.

Proposed Ethics Opinions

When there is an ethics inquiry that is a matter of first impression, cannot be answered with an ethics advisory, or may be of concern to the general membership of the bar, a written inquiry will be presented to the Ethics Committee at its next quarterly meeting.  If the Committee decides that the written inquiry should be published as a proposed ethics opinion, then the opinion will be published in the State Bar Journal and on the State Bar’s website.  This publication is made in order to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the opinion or request to be heard.  Following comment, the opinion may go through a “reconsideration” process or it may be adopted as a formal ethics opinion.

Commentary on Proposed Ethics Opinions will be published on a timely basis following their release from the State Bar in order to provide the North Carolina legal community a forum for discussion of the ethical standards under which every legal professional operates.  The Law Observer encourages guest commentary from attorneys and other members of the Bar for publication on our website.

Formal Ethics Opinions

A proposed ethics opinion becomes a formal ethics opinion once it has been considered and approved by the Council of the North Carolina State Bar.  The approval process takes place at the quarterly meeting immediately following publication of the proposed opinion.  A proposed opinion may go through the “reconsideration” process several times before it is ultimately adopted as a formal ethics opinion.

Commentary on Formal Ethics Opinions will be published on a timely basis following their release from the State Bar in order to provide the North Carolina legal community a forum for discussion of the ethical standards under which every legal professional operates.  The Law Observer encourages guest commentary from attorneys and other members of the Bar for publication on our website.