Claire Murray Appointed to State Bar's Formal Advisory Opinion Board
10/31/2005
Claire Murray, an associate with WWHGD, was appointed to the Formal Advisory Opinion Board of the State Bar of Georgia. She occupies the seat designated for a representative of the Young Lawyers Division, and succeeds WWHGD partner Ashley Nichols, who served the previous two-year term.
The Formal Advisory Opinion Board (FAOB) is authorized to draft Proposed Formal Advisory Opinions concerning the proper interpretation of the Rules of Professional Conduct or any of the grounds for disciplinary action as applied to a given state of facts.
When a Formal Advisory Opinion is requested, the FAOB reviews the request and makes a preliminary determination whether a Proposed Formal Advisory Opinion should be drafted. Factors to be considered by the FAOB include whether the issue is of general interest to the members of the Bar, whether a genuine ethical issue is presented, the existence of opinions on the subject from other jurisdictions, and the nature of the prospective conduct.
Once a proposed opinion is drafted by the FAOB, it is published in the Georgia Bar Journal for first publication, and is subject to comments from Bar membership. After the FAOB makes a final determination regarding the proposed opinion, a formal advisory opinion is published in the Georgia Bar Journal for second publication and filed with the Supreme Court of Georgia. This opinion is then considered to be a Formal Advisory Opinion issued by the Formal Advisory Opinion Board.
If no review of the opinion is requested or if the Supreme Court declines to grant a review, the opinion shall be binding on the requestor and the Bar. If the Supreme Court grants a petition for review or decides to review the opinion on its own motion and the opinion is then modified or approved by the Supreme Court, it shall be binding on all members of the Bar.
