A few speakers sounded notes of caution about how far new rules allowing multijurisdictional practice should in fact go. Lawrence J. Fox of Philadelphia, an Ethics 2000 member, suggested that disciplinary enforcement, client protection and commitment to professional values could all suffer if rules are loosened too much to permit lawyers to practice in a jurisdiction in which they haven t been licensed. Aba President Martha W. Barnett of Tallahassee, Fla., created the multijurisdictional practice commission last summer. The group now expects to submit recommendations for House consideration in August 2002. In the meantime, it has other public hearings scheduled in New York City, Atlanta and Chicago.
Commissioners are likely to get an earful again.
The world community has been moving slowly but inexorably toward creating a permanent court to hear cases charging individuals with war crimes, genocide and related violations of international human rights law. In February, the aba s policy-making House of Delegates called on the U.S. government to join a growing number of nations that support putting the International Criminal Court into operation. In July 1998, a U.N. treaty conference in Rome approved the statute to create the court with the United States perhaps the most significant holdout. Administration officials and members of Congress have expressed concerns that U.S. military personnel might be tried before an international tribunal, but proponents of the court maintain that its jurisdictional regime would prevent that from happening. Shortly before leaving office, President Clinton signed the icc treaty, but the Senate must ratify it before it is binding on the United States and there is no expectation the Senate will take that action in the near future.