This afternoon, the ABA House of Delegates approved numerous changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and related ABA policies, adopting all six resolutions proposed by the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20.
A brief two page summary of the changes can be found here, and you can find the specific amendments that the ABA adopted along with the accompanying reports here. (Resolutions 105A and 105F in the preceding link underwent minor changes after they were posted. The versions of those Resolutions that were actually adopted should be available within the next few days.)
I think you'll find that, although the changes are not revolutionary, the Commission has offered much-needed guidance on a wide range of ethics issues that have been arising with greater frequency due to globalization and rapid changes in technology. If you will be teaching PR this year, I highly recommend that you take a look at the changes, as they impact a number of Rules and issues that PR courses typically cover.
The six resolutions adopted today reflect the bulk of the Commission's proposals, though the Commission will continue to study several remaining issues before the Commission completes its work in February 2013. Those issues relate to virtual law practice, choice of law problems associated with conflicts of interest and nonlawyer ownership, and domestic practice authority for inbound foreign lawyers. (The Commission's continued consideration of the choice of law problems associated with nonlawyer ownership was the subject of a remarkably spirited debate today in the ABA House of Delegates.)
On a personal note, I have had the privilege to serve as the Commission's Chief Reporter. In doing so, I have worked with an extraordinarily talented group of Commissioners, including co-blogger Stephen Gillers and Commission co-chairs Jamie Gorelick and Michael Traynor. I've also had the great fortune of working with fellow Reporters (and Professors) Paul Paton, Tony Sebok and Brad Wendel. Paul was the Reporter for the complicated and politically sensitive issues associated with alternative law practice structures, and Brad and Tony were the Reporters for the Commission's outstanding white paper on alternative litigation finance. Last, and most importantly, I have been very lucky to work with the ABA's Ellyn Rosen, an amazingly dedicated and knowledgeable lawyer who has served as the Commission's counsel and advised the Commission on innumerable issues throughout its tenure. The ABA is fortunate to have her and the many other professionals who assisted the Commission. The Commission is not yet done with its work, but the effort has been wonderfully rewarding, in no small part because I've been able to work alongside such a terrific group of people.
UPDATE:
The as-adopted language can be found here. (See Resolutions 105A-105F). The language that you will find there is accurate, with one exception. There was a friendly amendment from the floor to add the all-caps text that appears below in Comment [3] to Rule 4.4:
[3] Some lawyers may choose to return a document or DELETE electronically stored information unread, for example, when the lawyer learns before receiving it the document that it was inadvertently sent to the wrong address. Where a lawyer is not required by applicable law to do so, the decision to voluntarily return such a document or DELETE electronically stored information is a matter of professional judgment ordinarily reserved to the lawyer. See Rules 1.2 and 1.4.
The point was made (and the Commission agreed) that electronically stored information (such as email) cannot really be returned; it can only be deleted. Thus, the word “delete” was added in the two spots shown above.
UPDATE 2: The ABA's website is a little hard to navigate, so I've created links to the as-adopted resolutions below:
Update 3: This document [updated October 2012 to reflect a technical correction] contains a compilation of all changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and related ABA policies that the House of Delegates approved this week as a result of Resolutions 105A-F. It is more user-friendly than the formal resolution language contained in the documents referenced above.