Rule 3 Disciplinary Agencies Designated

For purposes of administering the Court's disciplinary jurisdiction, the following entities are hereby established and designated as agencies of the Court.

(a) The Board of Commissioners of the Bar.

(b) The Office of General Counsel.

(c) The Executive Director of the Bar.

(d) Committee on Professional Responsibility.

(e) The Complaint Tribunal and Panels appointed by the Court.

(f) Receivers designated by a Complaint Tribunal or the chancery court.

(g) Other attorneys who may from time to time be requested in writing by the President of the Bar, the Board of Commissioners for the Bar, or by the Court to assist with an investigation or prosecution. Procedure

(3.1) When acting in the course of their disciplinary duties, each of the disciplinary agencies shall be considered a special master of the Court.

(3.2) The agencies shall be composed of active practicing attorneys or judges of the Circuit, Chancery or County Courts who are members of the Bar of the State of Mississippi and shall further be constituted as follows:

(a) Board of Commissioners for the Bar. The Board of Commissioners for the Bar (the Board) is provided for by Section 73-3-107, Mississippi Code of 1972. The Board shall have the authority to employ and compensate competent persons to serve as General Counsel, counsel, and non-lawyer staff who shall serve at the pleasure of the Board, either in full-time or part-time capacity, as the Board may from time to time deem necessary or advisable to effect the disciplinary procedures set forth herein.

(b) The Office of General Counsel. The Office of General Counsel shall investigate grievances, prosecute complaints, and discharge other duties assigned by the Board and the Committee on Professional Responsibility.

(c) Committee on Professional Responsibility. The Committee on Professional Responsibility shall be composed of six (6) members appointed by the President of the Bar for terms of three (3) years except the terms of the initial members shall be staggered in one and two year terms and shall consist of two members from each of the Supreme Court Districts. The Chairman of the Committee on Professional Responsibility shall be designated by the President of the Bar for a one (1) year term.

(d) Panels. The Court shall appoint a panel of judges and attorneys from each Supreme Court District, and from those panels Complaint Tribunals shall be designated and constituted as the need arises. The panel members shall be in such numbers as the Court may deem appropriate. The term of office of all

panel members shall be three (3) years, except the terms of the initial members shall be staggered in one, two and three year terms. No panel member shall serve more than two consecutive three year terms. Appointments may be terminated by the Court.

(e) Complaint Tribunal. Complaint Tribunal members shall be selected from the panels as provided herein above. Each Complaint Tribunal shall consist of two attorneys and one judge, and the judge member shall serve as the presiding judge of the Complaint Tribunal. Whenever a Complaint Tribunal member is unable to serve or a hearing will be unduly delayed because of the unavailability of a Complaint Tribunal member, the presiding judge may select from the remaining panel members an attorney to serve in the place of the attorney appointed by the court.

If the presiding judge or other member of the Complaint Tribunal is unable to serve or the hearing shall be unduly delayed, the Chief Justice of the Court may appoint a new presiding judge from the judges or members on the appropriate panel. The Complaint Tribunal designated to hear and determine a case shall conclude the matter, the termination of a term of office of one or more of its members notwithstanding. All members of a Complaint Tribunal shall reside in a Chancery and Circuit District different from that within which the subject attorney resides. Complaint Tribunal members shall be selected on a rotating basis from the panels as provided herein above.

(f) Other Attorneys. The assistance of other attorneys shall be requested and utilized on a case-by-case basis, and they shall be deemed to act for the Court only when their assistance has been requested in writing by the President or the Board.