DOCSLIB.ORG

Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys (Annotated)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys (Annotated) LAWYER PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS RULES AND CASES INTERPRETING SCR, CHAPTER 20 This document is intended to assist the profession and the public in its research and understanding of how the ethics rules have been interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court. Links to each ethics rule are provided for easy navigation. Each link takes one to the rule, comments, and annotations (notes about the interpretation of standards with citations to cases). Generally, cases are cited that interpret the rules in effect beginning July 1, 2007, the effective date of the rules implemented after Wisconsin completed review of the ABA proposed Ethics 2000 recommendations. In many cases, however, cases interpreting prior versions of the rules are noted where the information would be helpful and where more recent cases are few. Also, there is an occasional citation to a consent public or private reprimand where the information is helpful. Consent public or private reprimand summaries are not interpretations of the Supreme Court yet may provide helpful guidance. This document contains the rules and comments in Supreme Court Rules, Chapter 20, as they were in effect on January 1, 2021. Following the comments to each rule, this document contains annotations based on cases contained in the Compendium of Professional Discipline located at OLR’s website: www.wicourts.gov/olr. The annotations also include summaries of related State Bar of Wisconsin Formal Ethics Opinions. These are found after the annotations under the heading “Ethics Opinions.” This document will be updated regularly. The next update is expected to be published in the spring of 2022. Corrections and suggestions are welcome and may be forwarded to OLR, ATTN: Director, and emailed to [email protected]. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preamble: A Lawyer's Responsibilities 1.0 Terminology CLIENT-LAWYER RELATIONSHIP 1.1 Competence 1.2 Scope of representation and allocation of authority between lawyer and client 1.3 Diligence 1.4 Communication 1.5 Fees 1.6 Confidentiality 1.7 Conflicts of interest current clients 1.8 Conflict of interest: prohibited transactions 1.9 Duties to former clients 1.10 Imputed disqualification: general rule 1.11 Special conflicts of interest for former and current government officers and employees 1.12 Former judge, arbitrator, mediator or other 3rd-party neutral 1.13 Organization as client 1.14 Client with diminished capacity 1.15 Safekeeping property; trust accounts and fiduciary accounts 1.16 Declining or terminating representation 1.17 Sale of law practice 1.18 Duties to prospective client COUNSELOR 2.1 Advisor 2.2 Omitted 2.3 Evaluation for use by 3rd persons 2.4 Lawyer serving as 3rd-party neutral ADVOCATE 3.1 Meritorious claims and contentions 3.2 Expediting litigation 3.3 Candor toward the tribunal 3.4 Fairness to opposing party and counsel 3.5 Impartiality and decorum of the tribunal 3.6 Trial publicity 3.7 Lawyer as witness 3.8 Special responsibilities of a prosecutor 3.9 Advocate in nonadjudicative proceedings 3.10 Omitted TRANSACTIONS WITH PERSONS OTHER THAN CLIENTS 4.1 Truthfulness in statements to others 4.2 Communication with person represented by counsel 4.3 Dealing with unrepresented person 4.4 Respect for rights of 3rd persons 4.5 Guardians ad litem LAW FIRMS AND ASSOCIATIONS 5.1 Responsibilities of partners, managers, and supervisory lawyers 5.2 Responsibilities of a subordinate lawyer 5.3 Responsibilities regarding nonlawyer assistance 5.4 Professional independence of a lawyer 5.5 Unauthorized practice of law 5.6 Restrictions on right to practice 5.7 Limited liability legal practice 5.8 Responsibilities Regarding Law-Related Services PUBLIC SERVICE 6.1 Voluntary pro bono publico service 6.2 Accepting appointments 6.3 Membership in legal services organizations 6.4 Law reform activities affecting client interests 6.5 Nonprofit and court-annexed limited legal services programs INFORMATION ABOUT LEGAL SERVICES 7.1 Communications concerning a lawyer's services 7.2 Advertising 7.3 Solicitation of clients 7.4 Communication of fields of practice 7.5 Firm names and letterheads 7.6 Political contributions to obtain government legal engagements or appointments by judges MAINTAINING THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROFESSION 8.1 Bar admission and disciplinary matters 8.2 Judicial and legal officials 8.3 Reporting professional misconduct 8.4 Misconduct 8.5 Disciplinary authority; choice of law PREAMBLE: A LAWYER'S RESPONSIBILITIES [1] A lawyer, as a member of the legal profession, is a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice. [2] As a representative of clients, a lawyer performs various functions. As advisor, a lawyer provides a client with an informed understanding of the client's legal rights and obligations and explains their practical implications. As advocate, a lawyer zealously asserts the client's position under the rules of the adversary system. As negotiator, a lawyer seeks a result advantageous to the client but consistent with requirements of honest dealings with others. As an evaluator, a lawyer acts by examining a client's legal affairs and reporting about them to the client or to others. [3] In addition to these representational functions, a lawyer may serve as a 3rd-party neutral, a nonrepresentational role helping the parties to resolve a dispute or other matter. Some of these rules apply directly to lawyers who are or have served as 3rd-party neutrals. See, e.g., Rule 1.12 and Rule 2.4. In addition, there are rules that apply to lawyers who are not active in the practice of law or to practicing lawyers even when they are acting in a nonprofessional capacity. For example, a lawyer who commits fraud in the conduct of a business is subject to discipline for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. See Rule 8.4. [4] In all professional functions a lawyer should be competent, prompt and diligent. A lawyer should maintain communication with a client concerning the representation. A lawyer should keep in confidence information relating to representation of a client except so far as disclosure is required or permitted by the Rules of Professional Conduct or other law. [5] A lawyer's conduct should conform to the requirements of the law, both in professional service to clients and in the lawyer's business and personal affairs. A lawyer should use the law's procedures only for legitimate purposes and not to harass or intimidate others. A lawyer should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for those who serve it, including judges, other lawyers and public officials. While it is a lawyer's duty, when necessary, to challenge the rectitude of official action, it is also a lawyer's duty to uphold legal process. [6] As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work to strengthen legal education. In addition, a lawyer should further the public's understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority. A lawyer should be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance. Therefore, all lawyers should devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel. A lawyer should aid the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar regulate itself in the public interest. [7] Many of a lawyer's professional responsibilities are prescribed in the Rules of Professional Conduct, as well as substantive and procedural law. However, a lawyer is also guided by personal conscience and the approbation of professional peers. A lawyer should strive to attain the highest level of skill, to improve the law and the legal profession and to exemplify the legal profession's ideals of public service. [8] A lawyer's responsibilities as a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen are usually harmonious. Thus, when an opposing party is well represented, a lawyer can be a zealous advocate on behalf of a client and at the same time assume that justice is being done. So also, a lawyer can be sure that preserving client confidences ordinarily serves the public interest because people are more likely to seek legal advice, and thereby heed their legal obligations, when they know their communications will be private. [9] In the nature of law practice, however, conflicting responsibilities are encountered. Virtually all difficult ethical problems arise from conflict between a lawyer's responsibilities to clients, to the legal system and to the lawyer's own interest in remaining an ethical person while earning a satisfactory living. The Rules of Professional Conduct often prescribe terms for resolving such conflicts. Within the framework of these rules, however, many difficult issues of professional discretion can arise. Such issues must be resolved through the exercise of sensitive professional and moral judgment guided by the basic principles underlying the rules. These principles include the lawyer's obligation zealously to protect and pursue a client's legitimate interests, within the bounds of the law, while maintaining a professional, courteous and civil attitude toward all persons involved in the legal system.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Diligence (Scotland) Regulations 2009
    Status: This is the original version (as it was originally made). This item of legislation is currently only available in its original format. SCOTTISH STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS 2009 No. 68 ENFORCEMENT DEBT DILIGENCE The Diligence (Scotland) Regulations 2009 Made - - - - 23rd February 2009 Laid before the Scottish Parliament - - - - 24th February 2009 Coming into force - - 22nd April 2009 The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 155(4), 159 and 159A(3) of the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1868(1), sections 73B(2), 73G(2) and 73S(1) of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987(2); and sections 148(3) and 224(2) of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007(3) and all other powers enabling them to do so. Citation and commencement 1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Diligence (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and come into force on 22nd April 2009. Interpretation 2. In these Regulations– “the 1868 Act” means the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1868; “the 1987 Act” means the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987; and “the 2007 Act” means the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007. (1) 1868 c. 101 (“the 1868 Act”). Section 155 was substituted, section 159 amended, and section 159A inserted by, sections 149, 164(1) and 162 respectively of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 asp 3 (“the 2007 Act”). Section 164(2) inserts section 159B of the 1868 Act which contains a definition of “prescribed” relevant to the powers under which these Regulations are made. (2) 1987 c. 18 (“the 1987 Act”).
    [Show full text]
  • At Your Service: Lawyer Discretion to Assist Clients in Unlawful Conduct Paul R
    Boston College Law School Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School Boston College Law School Faculty Papers 2018 At Your Service: Lawyer Discretion to Assist Clients in Unlawful Conduct Paul R. Tremblay Boston College Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp Part of the Business Organizations Law Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, and the Organizations Law Commons Recommended Citation Paul R. Tremblay. "At Your Service: Lawyer Discretion to Assist Clients in Unlawful Conduct." Florida Law Review 70, no.2 (2018): 251-314. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law School Faculty Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AT YOUR SERVICE: LAWYER DISCRETION TO ASSIST CLIENTS IN UNLAWFUL CONDUCT Paul R. Tremblay* Abstract The common, shared vision of lawyers' ethics holds that lawyers ought not collaborate with clients in wrongdoing. Ethics scholars caution that lawyers "may not participate in or assist illegal conduct," or "giv[e] legal services to clients who are going to engage in unlawful behavior with the attorney as their accomplice." That sentiment resonates comfortably with the profession's commitment to honor legal obligations and duties, and to remain faithful to the law. The problem with that sentiment, this Article shows, is that it is not an accurate statement of the prevailing substantive law. The American Bar Association's (ABA) model standards governing lawyers prohibit lawyers from assisting clients with illegality, but only in certain defined categories-that is, crimes and frauds.
    [Show full text]
  • Prescription (Scotland) Bill (SP Bill 26) As Introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 8 February 2018
    This document relates to the Prescription (Scotland) Bill (SP Bill 26) as introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 8 February 2018 PRESCRIPTION (SCOTLAND) BILL —————————— POLICY MEMORANDUM INTRODUCTION 1. As required under Rule 9.3.3 of the Parliament‘s Standing Orders, this Policy Memorandum is published to accompany the Prescription (Scotland) Bill introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 8 February 2018. 2. The following other accompanying documents are published separately: Explanatory Notes (SP Bill 26–EN); a Financial Memorandum (SP Bill 26–FM); statements on legislative competence by the Presiding Officer and the Scottish Government (SP Bill 26–LC). 3. This Policy Memorandum has been prepared by the Scottish Government to set out the Government‘s policy behind the Bill. It does not form part of the Bill and has not been endorsed by the Parliament. POLICY OBJECTIVES OF THE BILL 4. The doctrine of prescription serves a vital function in the civil justice system. Negative prescription sets time-limits for when obligations (and rights), such as obligations under a contract, are extinguished. The policy objective of the Bill is to change the law of negative prescription to address certain issues which have caused or may cause difficulty in practice. These changes are designed to increase clarity, certainty and fairness as well as promote a more efficient use of resources, such as pursuers being less likely to have to raise court proceedings to preserve a right, and reduce costs for those involved in litigation and insurance. 5. The Bill makes a number of amendments to the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 (‗the 1973 Act‘).
    [Show full text]
  • Undergraduate Mods
    Contents Introduction and general administration................................................................................................ 4 Versioning ........................................................................................................................................... 5 The role of the Faculty and the college .............................................................................................. 5 Key Contacts........................................................................................................................................ 6 The Law Faculty and the St Cross Building .......................................................................................... 6 Induction events ................................................................................................................................. 6 The lecture list..................................................................................................................................... 7 Academic Dress ................................................................................................................................... 7 Dates of Term ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Oxford Students website .................................................................................................................... 7 Student Handbook .............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Professional Services Walker Love 2012-13
    Walker Love Sheriff Officers Collections Investigations understanding your needs With 11 offices across Scotland, 39 Sheriff Officers and Commissioned to operate in all six Sheriffdoms, we’ve got it covered. Walker Love is a firm of Messenger-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers. We provide a range of citation & diligence, enforcement, tracing, debt recovery and investigation services to businesses, public sector bodies, individuals and third sector organisations. Walker Love is a member of Connexx International . Services for professional service firms Citation We help our legal firm clients to trace and precognose witnesses, and Diligence deliver citations and execute diligence to recover debts. We also provide assistance with insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings. We fully appreciate that all clients are different. That’s why we £ Revenue Co llection have developed a structured yet flexible approach to dealing with and Enforcement the clients of professional services firms, which yield better results than the blanket, one size fits all approach. Our services include: • Citations & diligence ? Professional • Professional investigations Investigations • Pre-litigation enquiry reports We really do understand your needs. There will of course always be situations where debts are disputed DDebt or the individual has absconded or has become, or is on the verge +£ Recovery of becoming, insolvent. In our experience, it pays to take action as soon as possible. The most important thing when dealing with debtors is to International maintain credibility
    [Show full text]
  • Treaty Law Vs Customary Law
    Treaty Law Vs Customary Law Phagedaenic and Himyaritic Morly never melt his ensurers! Sometimes humoral Thad liquidises her obligingness smooth, but gap-toothed Phineas sipe largo or call boisterously. Unjoyous and monoclinous Harry protuberate some ascesis so asymptomatically! Yet equally great merit, would be different norms simply, treaty law only as right of interpretation of the tribunal could be a certain that only be unfortunate if any One should enjoy their disagreement, but online databases on treaty law vs customary law have been common fundamental problem. In domestic law review articles, depending upon it is no superior or conjointly, treaty law vs customary law is either. Two cases implicated by force, and objective facts about it may not recognize a state practice it absurd conclusions reached an absolute grant of treaty law vs customary law did not extend it? United states dominate international judicial dialogue regarding polygamy is a serious consequences will simply no longer possible sanctions earlier, treaty law vs customary law? Are responsible merely progressive development and. Whether these same is not conflict may have standing of legality prohibiting polygamous marriages. Enter your website uses cookies and now to apply even in treaty law vs customary law, but also be reconciled with domestic criminal law enforced consistently provide. Customary international treaty law vs customary law? State practice together, treaty law vs customary law specific crimes. For an identity claimed, treaty law vs customary law norms on. Canadian supreme court by saying that indigenous peoples that not a binding compacts between treaty law vs customary law or statute as declarations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case Against Equity in American Contract Law
    Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2020 The Case Against Equity in American Contract Law Jody S. Kraus Columbia Law School, [email protected] Robert E. Scott Columbia Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Contracts Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, and the Legal Remedies Commons Recommended Citation Jody S. Kraus & Robert E. Scott, The Case Against Equity in American Contract Law, 93 S. CAL. L. REV. 1323 (2020). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2537 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CASE AGAINST EQUITY IN AMERICAN CONTRACT LAW JODY P. KRAUS* & ROBERT E. SCOTT† The American common law of contracts appears to direct courts to decide contract disputes by considering two opposing points of view: the ex ante perspective of the parties’ intent at the time of formation, and the ex post perspective of justice and fairness to the parties at the time of adjudication. Despite the black letter authority for both perspectives, the ex post perspective cannot withstand scrutiny. Contract doctrines taking the ex post perspective—such as the penalty, just compensation, and forfeiture doctrines—were created by equity in the early common law to police against abuses of the then prevalent penal bond. However, when the industrial revolution pushed courts to accommodate fully executory agreements, and parties abandoned the use of penal bonds, the exclusively ex ante focus of the new contract law that emerged rendered the ex post doctrines obsolete.
    [Show full text]
  • Iia Study of Violence"
    If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. SCOTTISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF DELINQUENCY ANNUAL CONFERENCE IIA STUDY OF VIOLENCE" 12 - 14 NOVEMBER 1976 • PEEBLES HYDRO A REPORT ON THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS NCJRS DEC ~) 1979 ..ACt.)iJBS!TIONS FOREWORD • BY SHERIFF GORDON NICHOLSON " CHAIRMAN SCOTI'!SH ASSOOIATION FOR THE S'IUDY OF DELINQUENCY It gives me, as Chairman of S.A.S.D., great pleasure to write a few words at the beginning of this Conference Report because, in so doing, I can express both publicly and with some degree of permanence my thanks to a number of people who richly deserve such thanks. In the first place I should like to thank all thooe who participated in the Conference either as Speakers or as Group Chairmen. This was the first Conference to require suoh a de,;'ree of active participation by members of 3.A.S.D. and they all resp0nded to the challenge with great skill and eloquence. In the second place my grateful thanks are due to Lord Stewart who, with his customary energy and good humour, ,1(..Bswned the hitherto unchartered role of Conference co-ordinator. Under his guidance the proceedings of all the discussion groups were analysed and summarised and, at '~he final session of the Conference, presented with coherence and considerable unity. .. In the third place I wish to express my thanks ;'0 Superintendent James Brodie of the Strathclyde Police who volunteered to prepare this Report, and who has carried out his task with the greatest diligence and skill.
    [Show full text]
  • Due Diligence and Closing Issues
    DUE DILIGENCE AND CLOSING ISSUES ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Kendor P. Jones Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, P.C. Denver, Colorado You've hammered out the deal, negotiated and signed the Purchase Agreement and are looking forward to the Closing. Only one detail remains — confirming that your Buyer is going to get what it bargained for and/or not acquire in the process so many problems that the peacock becomes an albatross. Thus starts the due diligence period, at the end of which the deal that closes may bear little resemblance to the one that was struck. This paper will cover the period commencing with the signing of the Purchase Agreement and ending with Closing, the traditional “due diligence” period. The due diligence process actually begins when the Buyer's representatives first enter the data room or receive the sales material and doesn't end until the post‐Closing survival periods expire. However, the same disciplines apply throughout and I have assumed that the pre‐signing and post‐Closing review will be as diligent and thorough for their respective purposes as that conducted during the period discussed. The paper will not cover two key due diligence areas, environmental and third party dealings, since these will be addressed by others. Also, certain important areas, most notably those dealing with title and corporate and securities matters involved in stock deals, will not receive the analysis they deserve because of restrictions on the length of this paper. However, several of the papers cited in the bibliography deal with these areas in greater depth and hopefully they will serve the needs of those who seek greater guidance.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 44: Large and Complex Cases
    Chapter 44: Large and Complex cases Background The Obligation of the Police and Other Investigating Agencies to Submit Relevant Information to the Crown 44.1. The Law 44.1.1 In order for the system of disclosure to function correctly the Crown, the police and other investigating agencies must fulfil certain fundamental obligations: “Ultimately, the correct functioning of any system of disclosure depends on the diligence and sense of duty of everyone involved, starting with the police and going on up through the Procurator Fiscal service to the Crown Office and the Lord Advocate herself.” (McDonald [PC] at paragraph 61) 44.1.2 The police and other investigating agencies are under an obligation to submit all relevant information to the Crown. The court in Smith v HMA (1952 JC 66) set out that it is the duty of the police, “to put before the Procurator-fiscal everything which may be relevant and material to the issue of whether the suspected party is innocent or guilty. We repeat, it is not for the police to decide what is relevant and material but to give all the information which may be relevant and material.” 44.1.3 In relation to solemn cases, section 117 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 provides that: “(1) where in a prosecution – a) an accused appears for the first time on petition, or b) an accused appears for the first time on indictment (not having appeared on petition in relation to the same matter). (2) as soon as practicable after the appearance, the investigating agency must provide the prosecutor with details of all information that may be relevant to the case for or against the accused that the agency is aware of that was obtained in the course of investigating the matter to which the appearance relates.
    [Show full text]
  • Substantive Issues of Due Diligence for Legal Opinions
    SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES OF DUE DILIGENCE FOR LEGAL OPINIONS By Edward J. Levin Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe LLP Baltimore, Maryland The due diligence that counsel must perform in rendering a legal opinion letter is directly dependent on the contents of that opinion letter. Every statement and every opinion in the letter must be supported in some manner, and the substance of the opinion letter therefore dictates the extent of the due diligence required. As an initial step, to determine the necessary due diligence, it is important to have a basis for each statement in an opinion letter and to know all of the components of the opinions contained in an opinion letter. In some cases counsel will be able to assume certain facts (such as, in some opinions, that a certain corporation is in good standing in a given state), in some cases because other counsel is rendering an opinion concerning such points. Often, a number of facts on which the opinion giver relies are statements and representations of the borrower. An illustrative certificate from a borrower to its counsel to support an Inclusive Opinion, discussed below, is attached as Exhibit A. No due diligence will be required to support those assumptions or to rely on such certificates unless the opinion giver has actual knowledge of facts that would make the reliance unreasonable.1 It is essential to recognize all of the opinions implicitly given in an opinion letter. Consider an opinion based on the Accord, which opinion is extremely short. Because such an opinion incorporates the Accord by reference, it does not state the assumptions, exceptions, explanations and other matters frequently contained in opinion letters.
    [Show full text]
  • Report on Diligence
    SCOTTISH LAW COMMISSION (Scot Law Com No 183) abcdefgh Report on Diligence Laid before the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Ministers under section 3(2) of the Law Commissions Act 1965 May 2001 SE/2001/107 EDINBURGH: The Stationery Office £20.70 0 10 888031 1 ii The Scottish Law Commission was set up by section 2 of the Law Commissions Act 19651 for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law of Scotland. The Commissioners are: The Honourable Lord Gill, Chairman Patrick S Hodge, QC Professor Gerard Maher Professor Kenneth G C Reid Professor Joseph M Thomson The Secretary of the Commission is Miss Jane L McLeod. Its offices are at 140 Causewayside, Edinburgh EH9 1PR The text of this Report is available on the Internet at: http:/ /www.scotlawcom.gov.uk 1 Amended by the Scotland Act 1998 (Consequential Modifications) (No 2) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/1820). iii iv SCOTTISH LAW COMMISSION Item No 7 of our Sixth Programme of Law Reform Diligence To: Jim Wallace Esq QC MSP, Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice. We have the honour to submit to the Scottish Ministers our Report on Diligence. (Signed) BRIAN GILL, Chairman PATRICK S HODGE GERARD MAHER KENNETH G C REID JOSEPH M THOMSON JANE L MCLEOD, Secretary 23 April 2001 v vi Contents Paragraph Page PART 1 - INTRODUCTION 1 Outline of our proposals 1.3 1 Summary warrants 1.10 4 Legislative competence 1.11 5 European Convention on Human Rights 1.12 5 Acknowledgements 1.16 6 PART 2 - ABOLITION OF ADJUDICATION FOR 7 DEBT Outline of existing procedure 2.2 7 Defects of the diligence 2.3 7
    [Show full text]