Or. State. Bar. R. Regul. and Polic. 3.4

As amended through January 17, 2024

Rule 3.4 - FAIRNESS TO OPPOSING PARTY AND COUNSEL

A lawyer shall not:

(a) knowingly and unlawfully obstruct another party's access to evidence or unlawfully alter, destroy or conceal a document or other material having potential evidentiary value. A lawyer shall not counsel or assist another person to do any such act;

(b) falsify evidence; counsel or assist a witness to testify falsely; offer an inducement to a witness that is prohibited by law; or pay, offer to pay, or acquiesce in payment of compensation to a witness contingent upon the content of the witness's testimony or the outcome of the case; except that a lawyer may advance, guarantee or acquiesce in the payment of:

(1) expenses reasonably incurred by a witness in attending or testifying;

(2) reasonable compensation to a witness for the witness's loss of time in attending or testifying; or

(3) a reasonable fee for the professional services of an expert witness.

(c) knowingly disobey an obligation under the rules of a tribunal, except for an open refusal based on an assertion that no valid obligation exists;

(d) in pretrial procedure, knowingly make a frivolous discovery request or fail to make reasonably diligent effort to comply with a legally proper discovery request by an opposing party;

(e) in trial, allude to any matter that the lawyer does not reasonably believe is relevant or that will not be supported by admissible evidence, assert personal knowledge of facts in issue except when testifying as a witness, or state a personal opinion as to the justness of a cause, the credibility of a witness, the culpability of a civil litigant or the guilt or innocence of an accused;

(f) advise or cause a person to secrete himself or herself or to leave the jurisdiction of a tribunal for purposes of making the person unavailable as a witness therein; or

(g) threaten to present criminal charges to obtain an advantage in a civil matter unless the lawyer reasonably believes the charge to be true and if the purpose of the lawyer is to compel or induce the person threatened to take reasonable action to make good the wrong which is the subject of the charge.

Or. State. Bar. R. Regul. and Polic. 3.4

Adopted 1/1/2005

Defined Terms (see Rule 1.0):

"Believes"

"Knowingly"

"Matter"

"Reasonable"

"Reasonably"

"Reasonably believes"

"Tribunal"

Comparison to Oregon Code

Paragraph (a) is similar to DR 7-109(A).

Paragraph (b) includes the rules regarding witness contact from DR 7-109, and also the prohibition against falsifying evidence that is found in DR 7-102(A)(6).

Paragraph (c) is generally equivalent to DR 7-106(C)(7).

Paragraph (d) has no equivalent in the Oregon Code.

Paragraph (e) is the same as DR 7-106(C)(1), (3) and (4).

Paragraph (f) retains the language of DR 7-109(B).

Paragraph (g) retains DR 7-105.