Legal Advice and Marijuana Clients in PA: Clearing the Ethical Weeds

As some Pennsylvanians are breathing sighs of relief in light of the recent passage of House Bill SB3, which legalizes certain forms of marijuana for medicinal purposes, there has yet to be an official change to the Pennsylvania state legal ethics rules that would instruct and ultimately protect lawyers advising clients in the medical marijuana industry.

 

Last October, the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations gave opinions that the State Rules of Professional Conduct would have to be amended in order for lawyers to ethically advise clients about the use, sale, and cultivation of marijuana, given its status as a Schedule I controlled substance at the federal level; the use, possession, and transport of which is illegal under the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”).  A month later, in November, the Pennsylvania Bar Association adopted a resolution to amend Rule of Professional Conduct 1.2(d), which presently prohibits attorneys from counseling “a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent.”  The amendment has been referred to the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, said a spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.  The spokesman said that it was his understanding that the proposed amendments would be published for public comment after SB3 passed.

 

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