Pennsylvania Code › Title 204 - JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS › Part V - PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT › Subpart A - PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY › Chapter 81 - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT › Subchapter A - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT › LAW FIRMS AND ASSOCIATIONS › Rule 5.1 - Responsibilities of Partners, Managers and Supervisory Law yers

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) A partner in a law firm, and a lawyer who
						individually or together with other lawyers possesses comparable managerial
						authority 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 Rules of Professional Conduct.
(b) A lawyer having direct supervisory
						authority over another lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the
						other lawyer conforms to the Rules of Professional Conduct.
(c) A lawyer shall be responsible for another
						lawyer's violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct if:
(1) the lawyer orders or, with knowledge of
						the specific conduct, ratifies the conduct involved; or
(2) the lawyer is a partner or has comparable
						managerial authority in the law firm in which the other lawyer practices, or
						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.
Comment:
(1) Paragraph (a) applies to lawyers who have
						managerial authority over the professional work of a firm. See Rule
						1.0(c). This
						includes members of a partnership, the shareholders in a law firm organized as
						a professional corporation, and members of other associations authorized to
						practice law; lawyers having comparable managerial authority in a legal
						services organization or a law department of an enterprise or government
						agency; and lawyers who have intermediate managerial responsibilities in a
						firm. Paragraph (b) applies to lawyers who have supervisory authority over the
						work of other lawyers in a firm.
(2) Paragraph (a) requires lawyers with
						managerial authority within a firm to make reasonable efforts to establish
						internal policies and procedures designed to provide reasonable assurance that
						all lawyers in the firm will conform to the Rules of Professional Conduct. Such
						policies and procedures include those designed to detect and resolve conflicts
						of interest, identify dates by which actions must be taken in pending matters,
						account for client funds and property and ensure that inexperienced lawyers are
						properly supervised.
(3) Other
						measures that may be required to fulfill the responsibility prescribed in
						paragraph (a) can depend on the firm's structure and the nature of its
						practice. In a small firm of experienced lawyers, informal supervision and
						periodic review of compliance with the required systems ordinarily will
						suffice. In a large firm, or in practice situations in which difficult ethical
						problems frequently arise, more elaborate measures may be necessary. Some
						firms, for example, have a procedure whereby junior lawyers can make
						confidential referral of ethical problems directly to a designated senior
						partner or special committee. See Rule
						5.2. Firms, whether large or
						small, may also rely on continuing legal education in professional ethics. In
						any event, the ethical atmosphere of a firm can influence the conduct of all
						its members and the partners may not assume that all lawyers associated with
						the firm will inevitably conform to the Rules.
(4) Paragraph (c) expresses a general
						principle of personal responsibility for acts of another. See also Rule
						8.4(a).
(5) Paragraph (c)(2) defines the duty of a
						partner or other lawyer having comparable managerial authority in a law firm,
						as well as a lawyer who has direct supervisory authority over performance of
						specific legal work by another lawyer. Whether a lawyer has supervisory
						authority in particular circumstances is a question of fact. Partners and
						lawyers with comparable authority have at least indirect responsibility for all
						work being done by the firm, while a partner or manager in charge of a
						particular matter ordinarily also has supervisory responsibility for the work
						of other firm lawyers engaged in the matter. Appropriate remedial action by a
						partner or managing lawyer would depend on the immediacy of that lawyer's
						involvement and the seriousness of the misconduct. A supervisor is required to
						intervene to prevent avoidable consequences of misconduct if the supervisor
						knows that the misconduct occurred. Thus, if a supervising lawyer knows that a
						subordinate misrepresented a matter to an opposing party in negotiation, the
						supervisor as well as the subordinate has a duty to correct the resulting
						misapprehension.
(6) Professional
						misconduct by a lawyer under supervision could reveal a violation of paragraph
						(b) on the part of the supervisory lawyer even though it does not entail a
						violation of paragraph (c) because there was no direction, ratification or
						knowledge of the violation.
(7)
						Apart from this Rule and Rule
						8.4(a), a lawyer
						does not have disciplinary liability for the conduct of a partner, associate or
						subordinate. Whether a lawyer may be liable civilly or criminally for another
						lawyer's conduct is a question of law beyond the scope of these
						Rules.
(8) The duties imposed by
						this Rule on managing and supervising lawyers do not alter the personal duty of
						each lawyer in a firm to abide by the Rules of Professional Conduct. See Rule
						5.2(a).