(3.1) When acting in the course of their disciplinary duties, each of the disciplinary agencies shall be considered a special master of the Court.(3.2) The agencies shall be composed of active practicing attorneys or judges of the Circuit, Chancery or County Courts who are members of the Bar of this State and shall further be constituted as follows:(a)Board of Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners of the Bar is provided for by Section 73-3-107, Mississippi Code of 1972. The Board shall have the authority to employ and compensate competent persons to serve as Complaint Counsel, Assistant Complaint Counsel and non-lawyer staff who shall serve at the pleasure of the Board, either in full-time or part-time capacity, as the Board may from time to time deem necessary or advisable to effect the disciplinary procedures set forth herein.(b)Committee on Professional Responsibility. The Committee on Professional Responsibility shall be composed of six (6) members appointed by the President of the Bar for terms of two (2) years except the terms of the initial members shall be staggered in one and two year terms and shall consist of two members from each of the Supreme Court Districts of the state. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Committee shall be designated by the President of the Bar.(c)Panels. The Court shall appoint a panel of judges and attorneys from each Supreme Court District, and from those panels Complaint Tribunals shall be designated and constituted as the need arises. The panel members shall be in such numbers as the Court may deem appropriate. The term of office of all panel members shall be three (3) years, except the terms of the initial members shall be staggered in one, two and three year terms. No panel member shall serve more than two consecutive three year terms. Appointments may be terminated by the Court.(d)Complaint Tribunal. All tribunal members shall be selected from the panels mentioned above. Each tribunal shall consist of two attorneys and one judge, and the judge member shall serve as the presiding judge of the tribunal. Whenever a tribunal member is unable to serve or a hearing will be unduly delayed because of the unavailability of a tribunal member, the presiding judge may select from the remaining panel members an attorney to serve in the place of the attorney appointed by the court.(e)Receivers. If the presiding judge is unable to serve or the hearing shall be unduly delayed, the Chief Justice may appoint a new presiding judge from the judge members on the panels. All members of a tribunal designated to hear and determine a case as hereafter provide shall conclude the matter, the termination of a term of office of one or more of its members notwithstanding. All members of a Complaint Tribunal shall reside in a Chancery and Circuit District different from that within which the accused attorney resides. Tribunal members shall be selected on a rotating basis from the panels mentioned above(f)Other Attorneys. The assistance of other attorneys shall be requested and utilized on a case-by-case basis, and they shall be deemed to act for the Court only when their assistance has been requested in writing by the President or the First Vice President of the Bar, such attorneys may be individuals or members of local professional responsibility committees or local complaint committees.(g) The Board of Commissioners of the Bar is authorized to establish a program of evaluation, intervention, treatment, monitoring and assistance for attorneys who suffer from chemical dependence or from physical, emotional, or mental disabilities that result from disease, disorder, trauma or age, and which impairs or tends to impair their ability to practice and their professional conduct. Such program shall be implemented by a Lawyers and Judges Assistance (LJA) Committee appointed by the President of the Bar; provided, no member of other disciplinary agencies shall be a member of the LJA Committee. Such Committee's creation shall in no way be construed to hinder, limit or otherwise affect any other disciplinary process. The LJA Committee shall be governed by appropriate regulations promulgated by the LJA Committee and approved by the Board of Commissioners of the Bar consistent with these rules. The LJA Committee shall have the following responsibilities, powers and immunities. (1) Jurisdiction to investigate and evaluate allegations of attorney impairment arising from chemical dependency or physical, mental or emotional disability, which specifically includes, but is not limited to, conferring with any attorney who is the subject of such allegations as to such allegations, and making recommendations to such attorney, should it be determined that he or she in fact impaired, of sources of remedial assistance.(2) Perform similar functions as to cases referred to it by a disciplinary agency, reporting the results thereof to the referring agency;(3) Except as noted in the these Rules, allegations and information furnished, results of investigations, conferences and the like shall be privileged communication and held in the strictest confidence between the attorney involved and the LJA Committee; however, the status of compliance of an attorney who has been referred to the LJA Committee by a disciplinary agency as defined by Rule 3(c) or (d) of these rules with the terms and conditions imposed upon the attorney by the LJA Committee shall not be privileged communication for the purpose of the LJA Committee reporting such information to that disciplinary agency. The provisions of Rule 14 shall be applicable to the LJA Committee in its actions on allegations of impairment affecting attorneys. For good cause shown where the allegations of impairment are made by the attorney's family, the LJA Committee may, in its discretion, release such information to such person or persons as in its judgment will be in the best interest of the attorney involved;(4) Should such investigation and evaluation clearly indicate that an attorney involved other than an attorney who has been referred to the LJA Committee by a disciplinary agency as defined by Rule 3(c) or (d) of these rules is impaired or engaging in conduct detrimental to the public, the courts, or the legal profession, the LJA Committee shall take such action, including, if warranted, notification of Complaint Counsel, as may appear appropriate to the LJA Committee;(5) In regard to an attorney who has been referred to the LJA Committee by a disciplinary agency as defined by Rule 3(c) or (d) of these rules, should such investigation and evaluation indicate that the attorney involved is impaired or engaged in conduct detrimental to the public, the courts, or the legal profession, the LJA Committee shall take such action as may appear appropriate to the LJA Committee, including, but not limited to, notification of Complaint Counsel of the noncompliance by the attorney of terms and conditions imposed upon the attorney by the LJA Committee;(6) The LJA Committee may, under appropriate rules and regulations approved by the Board of Commissioners of the Bar, create action groups which may exercise any or all of the functions set forth herein to the extent provided in any such rules and regulations. Such action groups shall have all of the immunities provided for the LJA Committee. R. Disc. Miss. State Bar, pt. ONE, r. 3, Procedure
3. 2g added 2/9/1988; 3.2 amended 11/16/1995; amended 1/16/1996; amended 4/18/2002.