Rule 4 Types of Discipline

When a lawyer breaks the rules of professional conduct, there are several ways they can be punished. This rule lists the options that courts in the Northern Mariana Islands can use, either alone or combined with each other, depending on how serious the problem is.

The punishments range from mild to severe. On the lighter end, a lawyer might get a private reprimand (a formal but non-public warning) or be ordered to complete extra ethics training, community service, or counseling for substance abuse issues. On the more serious end, a lawyer can be publicly censured, fined, ordered to pay back money, suspended from practicing law, or disbarred completely, meaning they lose their license for good. A lawyer might also be put on probation, which means their work will be monitored for a period of time to make sure they don't repeat the same mistakes.

On top of any of these punishments, the court can also make the lawyer pay for the costs of investigating and handling the disciplinary case against them. So if a lawyer is found to have done something wrong, they may end up paying both a penalty and the bill for the process that caught them.