Any attorney who knows that another attorney has committed a violation under the Rules of Professional Conduct shall inform the proper professional authority. As for Joey, he too has committed this offense by not going forth with informing the bar.
Joey has further committed violations under the Model Rules. Under Rule 8.4, Joey, violated and attempted to violate this rule by knowingly assisted Chandler to go to another firm. He wrote a reference letter to the bar that did not mention the conviction. Chandler was admitted in a new state under false misrepresentation of facts.
The ABA Model Rule uses the mandatory language that a lawyer “shall” report violations. Failure to abide by the rule is sanction able. In states that have adopted this mandatory language, failure to report misconduct is itself an ethics violation. It would be a terrible result to be disciplined for failure to report someone else’s violation.
However, in some states, Georgia being one, it is not an affirmative violation to fail to report. In its Rule 8.3, Georgia explicitly states: “There is no disciplinary penalty for a violation of this