Rule 6 Confidentiality

A. Except as otherwise provided by these rules or by order of the Supreme Judicial Court, all proceedings before the Committee shall be confidential and no information may be published by the Committee. All persons concerned with any matter before the Committee shall be requested to respect the confidentiality of Committee proceedings.

B. Any hearing held before the Committee pursuant to Rule 2 of these rules shall be confidential except that it shall be public upon request of the person whose conduct is being investigated, or by majority vote of the Committee after giving that person an opportunity to express the person’s views on the question. In determining whether a hearing shall be public, the Committee will consider: the public interest in access to information, the stage of the Committee’s investigation into the matters to be heard, any special need to protect the confidentiality of witnesses or testimony in the particular proceedings, the presence in the proceedings of matters that are otherwise made confidential by law, the extent and nature of public awareness of the proceedings or their subject matter, and any special factors that may be relevant in the particular situation.

C. Unless otherwise provided by law, any person who is the subject of a complaint to the Committee may disclose at any time any information contained in the complaint.

D. As indicated in Rule 3, if the Committee decides that a charge has been established and reports its decision to the Supreme Judicial Court, any proceedings held by the Court shall be open to the public.