Pennsylvania Code › Title 204 - JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS › Part V - PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT › Subpart C - DISCIPLINARY BOARD OF THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA › Chapter 91 - MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS › Subchapter G - EMERGENCY PROCEEDINGS › Section 91.151 - Emergency temporary suspension orders and related relief

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a)
General rule.
Enforcement Rule 208(f) provides that:
(1)
					 Disciplinary Counsel, with the concurrence of a reviewing member of the Board,
					 whenever it appears by an affidavit demonstrating facts that the continued
					 practice of law by a person subject to the Enforcement Rules is causing
					 immediate and substantial public or private harm because of the
					 misappropriation of funds by such person to his or her own use, or because of
					 other egregious conduct, in manifest violation of the Disciplinary Rules or the
					 Enforcement Rules, may petition the Supreme Court for injunctive or other
					 appropriate relief;
(2) a copy of
					 the petition shall be personally served upon the respondent-attorney by
					 Disciplinary Counsel. If Disciplinary Counsel cannot make personal service
					 after reasonable efforts to locate and serve the respondent-attorney,
					 Disciplinary Counsel may serve the petition by delivering a copy to a clerk or
					 other responsible person at the office of the respondent-attorney, and if that
					 method of service is unavailable, then by mailing a copy of the petition by
					 regular and certified mail addressed to the addresses furnished by the
					 respondent-attorney in the last registration form filed by the
					 respondent-attorney pursuant to Enforcement Rule 219(c). Service is complete
					 upon delivery or mailing, as the case may be;
(3) the Court, or any justice thereof, may
					 enter a rule directing the respondent-attorney to show cause why the
					 respondent-attorney should not be placed on temporary suspension, which rule
					 shall be returnable within ten days; and
(4) the Court, or any justice thereof, may,
					 before or after issuance of the rule, issue such orders to the
					 respondent-attorney, and to such financial institutions or other persons, as
					 may be necessary to preserve funds, securities or other valuable property of
					 clients or others which appear to have been misappropriated or mishandled in
					 manifest violation of the Disciplinary Rules;
(5) an order directing the president judge of
					 the court of common pleas in the judicial district where the
					 respondent-attorney maintains his or her principal office for the practice of
					 law or conducts his or her primary practice, to take such further action and to
					 issue such further orders as may appear necessary to fully protect the rights
					 and interests of the clients of the respondent-attorney when:
(i) the respondent-attorney does not respond
					 to a rule to show cause issued after service of the petition pursuant to
					 Enforcement Rule 208(f)(1); or
(ii)
					 Disciplinary Council's petition demonstrates cause to believe that the
					 respondent-attorney is unavailable to protect the interests of his or her
					 clients for any reason, including the respondent-attorney's disappearance,
					 abandonment of practice, incarceration, or incapacitation from continuing the
					 practice of law by reason of mental infirmity or illness or because of
					 addiction to drugs or intoxicants.