The written rules of professional conduct that attorneys are expected to abide by are kind of like a boat that’s been in the water a long time, says Des Moines attorney Nick Critelli.

“Every now and then, you need to pull it out of the water and scrape off the barnacles,” said Critelli, the 2004-2005 president of the Iowa State Bar Association.

For Iowa attorneys, it’s been more than 30 years since the rules that specify the bounds of ethical behavior have been revised. On July 1, after five years of review, the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct will go into effect, replacing the present Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility.

Most business professionals and individuals will notice few changes when dealing with their attorneys, as most lawyers already adhere to these guidelines, Critelli said.

“I think the new rules are much akin to the process that business people would use in conducting due diligence,” he said. “So I think the client is going to be more comfortable with what the attorney is doing to diagnose their legal case. The new rules make it clear what the objectives of the representation will be, and that client, in conjunction with the attorney, determines the objective.”

Additionally, the rules specify that there should be a discussion that delineates the potential risks and benefits of accepting the attorney’s goals, but that it is counsel’s responsibility to develop the tactics to carry out the strategy.

To use a medical analogy, a person may choose to have an operation, but “you don’t tell your surgeon what kind of scalpel to use, or where to start making the incision,” Critelli said.

The 194-page document, issued April 20 by the Iowa Supreme Court, is based on model rules first developed in 1983 by the American Bar Association. Iowa is among the last states, the 47th, in fact, to adopt the new language. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been substantive changes to its ethics code in the past two decades, said George Kuhlman, ethics counsel for the American Bar Association in Chicago.

For instance, a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the 1980s that broadened the ability of attorneys to advertise their services caused states to modify their rules that define the circumstances under which attorneys can directly solicit clients by such means as direct mailings, Kuhlman said.

“So the format, in a sense, is what the (last) states have really been resisting,” Kuhlman said. “An awful lot of the big states acted immediately when they saw the final product get adopted in 1983.”

Serious discussion about the model rules didn’t really begin in Iowa until about 2000, when an Iowa Law Review article put it on people’s radar screens, Critelli said.

In an effort to educate attorneys about the new rules, “we have just literally bounced all over the state explaining them,” said Critelli, who began the initiative in October. He has also sent out an e-mail to all members of the bar association with a suggested “safety net” in how to operate as of July 1 under the new rules.

Additionally, the day after it issued the new rules, the Iowa Supreme Court requested that the bar association establish an ethics advisory committee to issue opinions on the new rules, which the association is in the process of doing, he said.

“So if (attorneys) still don’t know what to do, they should be able to write to the bar for guidance,” Critelli said.

New pro bono guidelines set in rules

Under the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct that go into effect July 1, Iowa attorneys “must aspire to render” at least 50 hours of pro bono legal services each year to charitable or community organizations or those people otherwise unable to pay for such services.

The message to non-profits and other organizations desiring free legal work: “Get a lawyer on your board,” said Nick Critelli, current president of the Iowa State Bar Association and a Des Moines attorney.

Brett Toresdahl, executive director of the ISBA’s Public Service Project, said Iowa attorneys contributed an estimated 16,000 hours of pro bono legal work in 2004 through Iowa Legal Aid referrals and the Polk County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project. Those hours, which equate to about $2 million worth of legal work, do not measure free work many attorneys likely handle in their communities, as well community service and involvement, Toresdahl said.

In terms of billable hours, 50 hours is equivalent to about three work weeks out of an attorney’s annual schedule.