Professor McGinniss Re-Appointed to the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards and Named Chair

At the invitation of Chief Justice VandeWalle of the North Dakota Supreme Court, Associate Professor of Law Michael S. McGinniss accepted an appointment to serve a third consecutive three-year term on the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards, beginning January 1, 2018. He has also accepted an appointment by SBAND President Darcie Einarson to serve a two-year term as Chair of the Joint Committee.

The Joint Committee is established by Supreme Court Administrative Rule 38, and consists of members appointed by the Supreme Court and the SBAND Board of Governors. It provides an indispensable mechanism for the Court and SBAND to engage in continual review of the North Dakota Rules of Professional Conduct, rules governing the lawyer discipline system, and other matters concerning attorney standards and supervision.

Before joining the law school faculty in 2010, Professor McGinniss served for twelve years as Disciplinary Counsel for the Delaware Supreme Court. He currently teaches Professional Responsibility, Evidence, Conflict of Laws, and Advanced Legal Ethics. He also served for three years as a founding co-coordinator for the UND School of Law’s team-taught first-year course, Professional Foundations. Professor McGinniss’ research and scholarship interests have focused on questions concerning the professional, ethical and moral responsibilities of lawyers.

In addition to serving on the Joint Committee since January 2012, Professor McGinniss has regularly shared his expertise in lawyer discipline by providing training for members of the North Dakota Disciplinary Board and District Inquiry Committees, and served as the annual coordinator for the Mart Vogel Lecture on Professionalism and Legal Ethics. For each of the past seven years, Professor McGinniss has received the J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow Award, given to promote professional responsibility, leadership and ethics, both in the legal profession and in the community.