A Note About Ethics Materials from the NH Bar Association Ethics Committee

Care should be exercised in determining which version of a given Rule applies as of a given date, and the extent to which the interpretation of a given opinion or article will apply to such version. Many interpretations of New Hampshire ethics law (including many ethics opinions, practical ethics articles, and ethics corner articles issued by the NHBA Ethics Committee) have been published under the prior version of the Rules of Professional Conduct or predecessor rules.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has not adopted the ABA Model Code Comments or the New Hampshire Comments, which are provided for reference on the Supreme Court site. Unofficial annotations to the Rules are included in some hard-copy versions of the Rules.

The New Hampshire Bar Association’s Ethics Committee has no official connection with the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Conduct, which makes disciplinary recommendations to the Supreme Court.

The Ethics Committee produces two types of work product. Opinions of the Committee analyze and apply the Rules to specific situational inquiries submitted to the Committee. Practical Ethics Articles analyze and apply the Rules to issues or situations determined by the Committee to be of general interest to the Bar. Both receive equal consideration, are the work product of the Committee rather than its individual members, and are received and reviewed by the Board of Governors of the Bar Association.