NY Adopts New Rules of Professional Conduct

New York Law Journal has this story on the adoption of new rules of professional conduct that align New York more closely with the ABA Model Rules.

The Rules of Professional Conduct align ethics standards in form and numbering sequence with the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct. That change will make it easier for New York attorneys to reference ethics rules and advisory and legal opinions nationwide when researching issues, supporters of the new rules say. "It is a tremendous relief to now speak the same language as the rest of the country," said Steven C. Krane, chairman of the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct, which proposed the revisions. "The code is dead. Long live the rules." Starting April 1, 2009, the Rules of Professional Conduct will replace the New York Code of Professional Responsibility.