Rule 3-101.

(CANON 1)
A Lawyer Should Assist in Maintaining the Integrity and Competence of the Legal Profession.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

EC 1-1  A basic tenet of the professional responsibility of lawyers is that every person in our society should have ready access to the independent professional services of a lawyer of integrity and competence. Maintaining the integrity and improving the competence of the bar to meet the highest standards is the responsibility of every lawyer.

EC 1-2  The public should be protected from those who are not qualified to be lawyers by reason of a deficiency in education or moral standards or of other relevant factors but who nevertheless seek to practice law. To assure the maintenance of high moral and educational standards of the legal profession, lawyers should affirmatively assist courts and other appropriate bodies in promulgating, enforcing, and improving requirements for admission to the bar. In like manner, the bar has a positive obligation to aid in the continued improvement of all phases of preadmission and post-admission legal education.

EC 1-3  Before recommending an applicant for admission, a lawyer should satisfy himself that the applicant is of good moral character. Although a lawyer should not become a self-appointed investigator or judge of applicants for admission, he should report to proper officials all unfavorable information he possesses relating to the character or other qualifications of an applicant.

EC 1-4  The integrity of the profession can be maintained only if conduct of lawyers in violation of the Disciplinary Rules is brought to the attention of the proper officials. A lawyer should reveal voluntarily to those officials all unprivileged knowledge of conduct of lawyers which he believes clearly to be in violation of the Disciplinary Rules. A lawyer should, upon request, serve on and assist committees and boards having responsibility for the administration of the Disciplinary Rules.

EC 1-5  A lawyer should maintain high standards of professional conduct and should encourage fellow lawyers to do likewise. He should be temperate and dignified, and he should refrain from all illegal and morally reprehensible conduct. Because of his position in society, even minor violations of law by a lawyer may tend to lessen public confidence in the legal profession. Obedience to law exemplifies respect for law. To lawyers especially, respect for the law should be more than a platitude.

EC 1-6  An applicant for admission to the bar or a lawyer may be unqualified, temporarily or permanently, for other than moral and educational reasons, such as mental or emotional instability. Lawyers should be diligent in taking steps to see that during a period of disqualification such person is not granted a license or, if licensed, is not permitted to practice. In like manner, when the disqualification has terminated, members of the bar should assist such person in being licensed, or, if licensed, in being restored to his full right to practice.

EC 1-7  A partner in a law firm shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the firm has in effect measures giving reasonable assurance that all lawyers in the firm conform to the Standards of Conduct.

EC 1-8  A lawyer having direct supervisory authority over another lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the other lawyer conforms to the Standards of Conduct.

EC 1-9  With respect to a nonlawyer employed or retained by or associated with a lawyer:
(a)    a partner in a law firm shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the firm has in effect measures giving reasonable assurance that the person's conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer;
(b)    a lawyer having direct supervisory authority over the nonlawyer shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the person's conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer; and
(c)    a lawyer shall be responsible for conduct of such a person that would be a violation of the Standards of Conduct if engaged in by a lawyer if:

(1)the lawyer orders or, with the knowledge of the specific conduct, ratifies the conduct involved; or
(2)the lawyer is a partner in the law firm in which the other lawyer practices and knows of the conduct at a time when its consequences can be avoided or mitigated but fails to take reasonable remedial action; or
(3)the lawyer has direct supervisory authority over the other lawyer and knows of the conduct at a time when its consequences can be avoided or mitigated but fails to take reasonable remedial action.

DIRECTORY RULES

DR 1-101. Maintaining Integrity and Competence of the Legal Profession.
(A)  A lawyer is subject to discipline if he has made a materially false statement in, or if he had deliberately failed to disclose a material fact requested in connection with, his application for admission to the bar.
(B)  A lawyer shall not further the application for admission to the bar of another person known by him to be unqualified in respect to character, education, or other relevant attribute.

DR 1-102. Misconduct.
(A)  A lawyer shall not:

(1)  violate a Disciplinary Rule;
(2)  circumvent a Disciplinary Rule through actions of another;
(3)  engage in illegal professional conduct involving moral turpitude;
(4)  engage in professional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation;
(5)  engage in professional conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice;
(6)  engage in any other professional conduct that adversely reflects on his fitness to practice law.

DR 1-103. Disclosure of Information to Authorities.
(A)  A lawyer possessing unprivileged knowledge of a violation of DR 1-102 shall report such knowledge to a tribunal or other authority empowered to investigate or act upon such violation.
(B)  A lawyer possessing unprivileged knowledge or evidence concerning another lawyer or a judge shall reveal fully such knowledge or evidence upon proper request of a tribunal or other authority empowered to investigate or act upon the conduct of lawyers or judges.