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32 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law. 499 (2019-2020)
Attorney-Client Sexual Relationships: A Call for All States to Adopt Model Rule 1.8(j)

handle is hein.journals/jaaml32 and id is 525 raw text is: Attorney-Client Sexual Relationships Comment, ATTORNEY-CLIENT SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS: A CALL FOR ALL STATES TO ADOPT MODEL RULE 1.80) I. Introduction Before 2002, there was no model rule in the American Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct that banned attor- ney-client sexual relationships.' Before any model rule that lim- ited such relationships, most states did not have any specific rule regarding these relations and relied on other rules of professional conduct when attorney-sexual relationships would go awry. The American Bar Association's model rule on regulation of attorney-client sexual relations is Model Rule 1.8(j).2 The rule states that a lawyer shall not have sexual relations with a client unless a consensual sexual relationship existed between them when the client-lawyer relationship commenced.3 More than half of the states have adopted the Model Rule, and others have versions of the Model Rule that ban attorney-client sex.4 Yet, there are still a handful of states that have no explicit rule to ban these sexual relationships, unless it has some other basis in other professional conduct rules. The latest changes to a state regulation was in California in May 2018.5 The previous rule allowed attorneys to have sexual relationships with their clients; they were just not allowed to pro- position the client for sexual relations before the representation.6 The new California law allows attorney-client sex if the relation- 1 Frederick C. Moss & Patricia Chamblin, Lover v. Lawyer: The Sex with Clients Debate in Texas, 55 ADvOc. (Texas) 48 (Summer 2011). 2 MODEL RULES OF PROF'L CONDUCT r. 1.8(J) (AM. BAR Ass'N 2018). 3 Id. 4 American Bar Association, CPR Policy Implementation Committee, Variations of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.8(j), https:/ /www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/professional-responsibi lity/mrpc1-8j.authcheckdam.pdf (Sept. 29, 2017). 5 Bob Egelko, New California Rule Bans Lawyers from Having Sex with Clients, SAN FRANcIsco GATE, (May 10, 2018), https://www.sfgate.com/news/ article/New-California-rule-bans-lawyers-from-having-sex-12905698.php. 6 Neil Wertlieb, Best Behavior: In Addition to Many New Rules of Pro- fessional Conduct, the State Bar Has Proposed Various Changes to Existing Vol. 32, 2020 499

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