National Center for Prosecution Ethics

The National College of District Attorneys is pleased to announce two projects currently under way at the National Center for Prosecution Ethics. One focuses on the American Bar Association’s “Ethics 2000” efforts that resulted in the amendment of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. As a result of the amendment of these model rules, the states are considering amendments to their rules of professional conduct and ethics. The special role of prosecutors in the criminal justice system necessitates the involvement of prosecutors in the promulgation and amendment of rules of professional conduct and ethics. The center plans to monitor the efforts of the states considering the amended Model Rules of Professional Conduct, collect information relating to rules of special interest to prosecutors, and share that information with prosecutors and prosecution organizations. Our aim is to assist prosecutors in their efforts to have their states’ rules reflect the uniqueness of the prosecution function.

The other project involves the collection of ethics advisory opinions and disciplinary opinions involving allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

The National Center for Prosecution Ethics, created in 2001, is a place of study and objective analysis of legislative enactments, judicial rules and decisions as well as proposals by bar associations, state prosecutorial associations and state and national defense lawyer associations. A fundamental asset of the center will be a resource center that will serve as an information hub where prosecutors will be able to collect and disseminate materials relating to rules, standards and guidelines, along with administrative and judicial opinions concerning the professional responsibility of prosecutors—all of which will eventually be accessible via the Internet. The initial phase of the center’s Web site is currently in development.

In addition, the center will assist the National College of District Attorneys, the National District Attorneys Association, state and local prosecutors’ offices, prosecution coordinator organizations and various states. The role of the National Center will be to design courses of instruction, conduct educational programs, and develop strategies for the implementation of rules of professional responsibility with more consideration of the uniqueness of the prosecution function.

The center is affiliated with the National College of District Attorneys and the University of South Carolina School of Law and will work closely with that school’s Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism and with the National District Attorneys Association.

An advisory committee for the center has been created to represent federal, state and local prosecution offices, the private bar, the judiciary, community leaders and the faculty of the University of South Carolina Law School. The committee, whose members have been appointed by the college’s dean, Robert S. Fertitta, include Robert M. A. Johnson, representing the National District Attorneys Association, and Edwin M. Cook, executive director of the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council. The committee will meet on a biannual basis to give direction to the National Center for Prosecution Ethics and ensure constant review and ongoing study of prosecutorial ethics and related issues.

The director of the center is Amie L. Clifford, who is also an assistant director with the National College of District Attorneys and a contributing author for Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Guide to Ethics and Civil Liability (NCDA June 2002).