Codes of Ethics (or Rules of Professional Responsibility/Conduct) are passed by each state to regulate the activities of their attorneys. These state codes are largely derived from the Model Rules (and their many incarnations over time) drafted by the ABA, or from the Restatement, Third, The Law Governing Lawyers, published by the American Law Institute. Each state decides which rules to adopt or not adopt, and which to adopt with alterations. State and local bars and the ABA also propose and pass new rules. Interested parties are usually allowed to comment on these proposed rules before they are passed.
Lawyers can ask their state or local bar or the ABA for an opinion on a legal issue that they feel is not adequately addressed in the rules. The bar can either choose to address the issue through a formal Ethics Opinion, if the issue would be of interest to a broad group of attorneys, or through an informal opinion to the lawyer in question.
When a lawyer is found to have violated a rule of professional conduct, the lawyer’s state or local bar can discipline the lawyer with anything from a mere letter of caution to disbarment. Public disciplinary orders are usually published on state bar websites. Usually, the state bar or the attorney-respondent can appeal the order of discipline to the Court of Appeals on an issue of law, creating accessible case law.