Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure Back to Outline
(Tex. R. Disciplinary P., reprinted in Tex. Govt Code Ann,. tit. 2, subtit. G app. (Vernon Supp. 1995)
II THE DISTRICT GRIEVANCE COMMITTEES 2.16 Confidentiality
A. All members and staff of the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, Board of Disciplinary Appeals, Committees, and Commission shall maintain as confidential all Disciplinary Proceedings and associated records, except that:
1. the pendency, subject matter, status of an investigation, and final disposition, if any, may be disclosed by the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel or Board of Disciplinary Appeals if the Respondent has waived confidentiality, the Disciplinary Proceedings is based on conviction of a serious crime, or disclosure is ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction;
2. a negotiated judgment entered by an Investigatory Panel for any Sanction other than a private reprimand may be disclosed;
3. if the Evidentiary Panel finds that professional misconduct occurred and imposes any Sanction other than a private reprimand,
a. the Evidentiary Panel’s final judgment is a public record from the date the judgment is signed; and
b. once all appeals, if any, have been exhausted and the judgment is final, the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel shall, upon request, disclose all documents, statements, and other information relating to the Disciplinary Proceeding that came to the attention of the Evidentiary Panel during the Disciplinary Proceeding;
4. the record in any appeal to the Board of Disciplinary Appeals from an Evidentiary Panel’s final judgment, other than an appeal from a judgment of private reprimand, is a public record; and
5. facts and evidence that are discoverable elsewhere are not made confidential merely because they are discussed or introduced in the course of a Disciplinary Proceeding.
B. The deliberations and voting of an Investigatory Panel or Evidentiary Panel are strictly confidential and not subject to discovery. No person is competent to testify as to such deliberations and voting.
C. Rule 6.08 governs the provision of confidential information to authorized agencies investigating qualifications for admission to practice, attorney discipline enforcement agencies, law enforcement agencies, the State Bar’s Client Security Fund, the State Bar’s Lawyer Assistance Program, the Supreme Court’s Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee and its subcommittees, and the Commission on Judicial Conduct.
D. Files of dismissed Disciplinary Proceedings will be retained for one hundred eighty days, after which time the files may be destroyed. No permanent record will be kept of Complaints dismissed except to the extent necessary for statistical reporting purposes.
Bluebook Citation
Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. § 2.16, (Texas Center for Legal Ethics, 2024) from https://legalethicstexas.com/resources/rules/texas-rules-of-disciplinary-procedure/confidentiality/ (last visited Apr 26, 2024)