The Disciplinary Board has issued its Annual Report for 2024. Below are a few highlights from the report.
The Disciplinary Board adjudicated nineteen cases in 2024, fourteen disciplinary and five reinstatement matters. But the activities of the Board go much farther than just deciding cases. Activities covered in the Report include:
- The Rules Committee considers amendments to the various rules that govern disciplinary and professional conduct matters. The Committee assisted the Supreme Court in the issuance of three amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct in 2024.
- The Finance and Personnel Committee oversees the Board’s fiscal operations, administering over $14 million in operating revenue and seventy-seven employees.
- The Communications Committee manages an array of public communications, including preparing the monthly newsletter for a mailing list of over ninety thousand, delivering an effective social media presence, maintaining an extensive website, and outreach to attorneys, the public, and law schools.
- The Education Committee promotes educational opportunities for attorneys, members of the Board and the Hearing Committees, staff, and Respondents’ counsel. It also participates in national organizations and produces educational materials to promote interest in ethics in the legal profession.
The work of the Board depends heavily on the volunteer support of 152 attorneys appointed as Hearing Committee members. These volunteers reviewed sixty-one complaint dispositions; held twenty-nine prehearing conferences, twenty disciplinary hearings, and four reinstatement hearings; and filed nineteen Hearing Committee reports.
In 2024, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed twenty-three Petitions for Discipline, twenty-five Joint Petitions for Discipline on Consent, three Petitions for Emergency Temporary Suspension, and five Contempt Petitions. Eleven attorneys filed Petitions for Reinstatement from discipline, four certifications for reinstatement from a suspension for one year or less, and fifty-nine Petitions for Reinstatement from inactive status, retired status, or administrative suspension for less than three years.
Discipline imposed included twenty-four disbarments, thirty-two suspensions, twelve temporary suspensions, twenty-one public reprimands, eight private reprimands, and twenty-six informal admonitions.
Over 74,000 attorneys completed registration in 2024. Of these, 47,335 are active and Pennsylvania-based, 17,148 are active out-of-state, and 9,942 are inactive in- or out-of-state. Eighty-nine percent of the registrations were timely completed by July 1, 2024, and 97% prior to the assessment of the first late fee. Over two thousand new attorneys were admitted to practice, the highest number in the last six years. The number of retired attorneys electing emeritus status grew by ten to a total of forty-eight.
The Board and Hearing Committees conducted and live streamed to the general public eighteen hearings, five oral arguments, and twenty-one public reprimands spanning 135 hours. Viewers streamed a total of 5,417 hours.
The Board continued to expand the coverage and accessibility of its website which recorded 2.9 million user visits.
The Board’s operating revenue (from annual assessments and administrative fees) was $14,561,268. With $13,650,010 in expenses, the Board showed an operating surplus of $911,258. It also earned non-operating income of $998,671 on investments with the Investment Advisory Board, improving its financial condition by a total of $1,909,929 and avoiding further draws on its reserve funds. The annual assessment remains at $275, which is allocated as follows: $195 to the Disciplinary Board, $50 to the Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security, and $30 to the IOLTA Board.
In 2024, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel opened 4,421 cases and resolved 4,725, reducing its carryover by 304 cases. In addition to case dispositions, the ODC assisted clients in several ways, such as securing the refund of fees or the return of files, documents, and other property, reestablishing communication between attorney and client and facilitating movement in stagnant cases, facilitating updates to forms, contact information, or documents, and educating attorneys on ethical issues with or without issuance of a letter of education or concern. The ODC opened seven conservatorship matters and obtained the appointment of two conservators. Eleven conservatorship cases remained open at year’s end. In addition, ODC staff presented or participated in several educational activities for law schools and the bar, including fifteen Continuing Legal Education presentations.