Some good class discussion questions on this one arising from the DOJ IG’s report on former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke’s leaks to the NY Times and Fox News in the `Fast and Furious’matter.
The DOJ maintains its own `private’ disciplinary office (OPR) which in practices preempts action by the state licensing authorities who are the source of the law license of every lawyer in the country. [The OPR process has been criticised in the Yale Law Journal online by Professor Green for excessive secrecy.]
The OIG’s report here asks OPR to investigate Burke’s conduct and to determine if the former prosecutor violated the rules of professional conduct of “any state bar of which he is a member”.
Did he? RPC 3.3 – Candor to the tribunal comes to mind – but the OIG is not a tribunal. The former “appearance of impropriety standard” served as a catch-all, but it is gone. How about RPC 3.8 special responsibilities of a prosecutor?
Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach 