1. What is the National Council of Lawyer Disciplinary Boards, Inc.?

NCLDB, Inc. is a Texas nonprofit corporation which has as its principal purpose the exchange of information between member organizations involved in deciding formal disciplinary complaints against lawyers.

2. What is the difference between the National Organization of Bar Counsel and the National Council of Lawyer Disciplinary Boards, Inc.?

Each U.S. jurisdiction has an agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting ethics complaints against lawyers. These agencies belong to the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC). NOBC sponsors educational programs for its members and also takes policy positions on issues affecting the regulation and discipline of lawyers. NOBC's educational programs are primarily focused on how to investigate, screen, and prosecute ethics complaints. NCLDB, on the other hand, is primarily focused on the judging side of lawyer disciplinary proceedings. Every U.S. jurisdiction has one or more entities that hear the evidence involving disciplinary complaints against lawyers and decide if a violation has been proven under the standard of proof that jurisdiction has adopted. Some of these entities, commonly called Disciplinary Boards, have final decision-making authority, absent appeal to the jurisdiction's Supreme Court. Others make a recommendation on the charges contained in the disciplinary complaint and the final decision is made by the jurisdiction's Supreme Court. In either case, the members of the Disciplinary Board serve as judges regarding the charges contained in the disciplinary complaint filed against a particular lawyer. As can be seen, the NOBC and NCLDB have different constituencies in the same process. NOBC deals primarily with the investigation, screening, and prosecution of disciplinary complaints against lawyers and NCLDB deals primarily with the adjudication of those charges similar to what a judge would do in any civil or criminal case the judge heard. NCLDB's educational programs are primarily focused on how disciplinary proceedings should be conducted to ensure their fairness and efficiency.

3. Is there a need for separation between NOBC and NCLDB, if one group primarily consists of disciplinary complaint prosecutors and the other group hears the charges the first group brings?

NOBC and NCLDB are membership organizations principally involved in educational programming and the exchange of information about the substance and procedure of lawyer disciplinary proceedings. NOBC does not appear as an organization before any of the volunteers or staff of organizations that are members of NCLDB. Ethics rules prohibit one side in a contested case from discussing the merits of the matter with the judge without notice to the other side (this is called the prohibition against ex parte contact with judges). NOBC members and NCLDB members know this and do not discuss the merits of cases pending before any particular disciplinary board at educational programs they sponsor. A third organization, the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL), consists of lawyers who represent other lawyers in disciplinary proceedings. APRL also conducts educational programs and frequently co-sponsors such programs with NOBC for the benefit of members of both organizations. Again, the members of these groups know they may not discuss the merits of pending cases in any context in which one-sided contact with a disciplinary judge hearing the case might be involved. Thus, while each group focuses its educational programming on different aspects of the same process, they may from time to time co-sponsor and participate in joint educational programming for the benefit of each group's members while ensuring that pending cases are dealt with properly and fairly and in compliance with all applicable rules, including those involving ex parte contact with judges.

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