Attorneys are regulated in several ways. In Arizona we must pass the bar exam after graduating from law school. We must pass a professional responsibility exam. (That requirement came along after I started practicing, so I missed the privilege.) The Arizona Supreme Court’s Committee on Character and Fitness must bless each applicant, deciding whether he or she has sufficient character and fitness to practice law.
Once we’re admitted, we must adhere to the Rules of Professional Conduct, a set of about 55 substantive rules, most with subparts and all with comments. (Between 2001 and 2003 I spent almost two years on a committee of 17 attorneys and judges who rewrote these rules. Fourteen full-day sessions in Phoenix, plus lots of