2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FOUR - Judiciary (§§ 1-3 — 2166) › PART IV - Law and Notarial Practice (§§ 721 — 1001-1040) › Chapter 63 - Bar Association of Puerto Rico (§§ 771 — 785) › § 773a - Complaints investigation; procedure

(a) Upon receiving and investigating complaints filed with regard to the conduct of members in the practice of their profession, the Bar Association, its Governing Board, its Ethics Committee or whatever body of the Association upon which it delegates are hereby empowered to take oaths and statements and to require the presence of witnesses or the respondent, and the production of books, letters, documents, papers, files and all other objects needed for a complete understanding of the complaint being investigated.
(b) Every summons requiring the respondent or a witness to appear before the Bar Association, its Governing Board, or the body of the Association upon which it delegates for the purpose of testifying, or producing or surrendering documents, or both, may be issued by the President of the Bar Association, by the Chairman of the Ethics Committee or by the Chairman of the body of the Association designated to investigate the complaint.
(c) The summons will include an order addressed to the respondent or witness to appear on a specific date, hour and place and, if necessary, with the required documents. The summons will indicate if the appearance shall be before the Bar Association, the Governing Board, the Ethics Committee or before the body of the Association designated for the investigation and will bear the signature of the issuing official.
(d) The summons will be served by any person who is over eighteen (18) years old, knows how to read and write and is not a party to or has any interest in the complaint subject to investigation.
The sworn certificate of the person charged with serving the summons, if the person did serve a copy of it to the respondent or witness indicating the name of the person who accepted the summons and the date and place it was served, shall constitute evidence of the service.
Fees and travel expenses shall be paid by request of the witness, in an amount which, pursuant to the laws, would be paid to a witness summoned to appear before the Court of First Instance, under similar circumstances.
(e) When a person summoned pursuant to the provisions of this section fails to appear to testify or does not produce the books, papers, records or documents, or refuses to answer, or knowingly makes a false statement in answer to any question related to the investigation of a complaint filed with regard to the conduct of a member of the Bar Association in the practice of his profession, the President of the Association, the Governing Board, the Chairman of the Ethics Committee or the Chairman of the body of the Association designated to investigate the complaint may request assistance from the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico to require the appearance and testimony of the respondent or witness and the production and delivery of the documents requested in the investigation.
(f) The President of the Association, the Governing Board, the Chairman of the Ethics Committee or the Chairman of the body of the Association designated to investigate the complaint may refer the summons to the Secretary of Justice for the purpose of invoking the assistance of the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico. The Secretary, in consideration of its merits, will appear before the court with a request that it issue an order to appear, for the purpose in subsection (e) of this section.
(g) Once the request is filed before the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico, it will issue a summons requiring and ordering the witness or respondent to appear before the Bar Association, before the Governing Board, before the Ethics Committee or before the body of the Association designated to investigate the complaint to testify or produce the evidence and documents requested, or both. Any failure to obey the order issued by the court shall be punished by it as civil contempt.
(h) Any person who, having testified under oath, knowingly makes a false statement shall be guilty of the crime of perjury and shall be subject to the penalties indicated in Section 225 of the Penal Code.
(i) The Bar Association, its Governing Board, the Ethics Committee or the body of the Association designated to investigate the complaint shall conduct a hearing to which the respondent will be summoned to appear and where due process of law will be guaranteed to him.
(j) If probable cause is found after the investigation carried out by the Bar Association, its Governing Board, the Ethics Committee or the body of the Association designated to investigate the complaint, the President of the Bar Association, with the mandate of its Governing Board, shall request the Supreme Court to initiate an investigation of the professional conduct of the attorney under investigation.
(k) The report of the investigation carried out by the Bar Association, its Governing Board, by the Ethics Committee or by the body of the Association designated to investigate the complaint with respect to the conduct of the members in the practice of the profession, filed before the Supreme Court with a complaint or request of separation against an attorney, shall be sufficient for the Supreme Court to proceed to hear the same. The Supreme Court shall confer the same treatment to the report as if the complaint had been investigated by the Attorney General or the Courts Administration, pursuant to the provisions of Rule 13, subsection (g) of the Supreme Court Regulations.
(l) Nothing provided by this section shall be construed as limiting the power of the Attorney General of Puerto Rico to initiate these procedures on his own account, or limiting the power of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico to order additional investigations of this type of complaint.
History —May 14, 1932, No. 43, p. 522, added as § 2A on June 27, 1986, No. 46, p. 137, § 2.