Rule 1:20-2. Office of Attorney Ethics

(a) Appointment The Supreme Court shall appoint a Director of the Office of Attorney Ethics and such assistant and deputy ethics counsel and staff as it may from time to time determine are necessary to perform properly the functions prescribed by these rules. Neither the Director, ethics counsel nor staff shall be permitted to otherwise engage in the practice of law nor to be otherwise employed except as may be provided by the Code of Conduct for Judiciary Employees, these rules and R. 1:17.

(b) Authority The Director shall have the discretion and the authority to:

(1) exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the investigation and prosecution of the following: (A) any case in which the Director determines the matter involves serious or complex issues that must be immediately addressed or one that requires emergent action; (B) all cases in which an attorney is a defendant in any criminal proceedings; (C) any case in which the Ethics Committee requests intervention; (D) any case in which an Ethics Committee has not resolved a matter within one year of the filing of a grievance; (E) any case in which the Board or the Supreme Court determines the matter should be assigned to the Director; (F) any case involving multijurisdictional practice or practice as in-house counsel. (2) investigate any information coming to the Director's attention, whether by grievance or otherwise, which, in the Director's judgment, may be grounds for discipline or transfer to disability-inactive status; (3) dispose of, by investigation or dismissal, all matters involving alleged unethical conduct , by transfer to disability-inactive status, by agreement in lieu of discipline in minor unethical conduct cases, or by the prosecution of formal charges before a duly constituted hearing panel or special ethics master, all in accordance with these Rules; (4) prosecute ethics proceedings before the Disciplinary Review Board; (5) prosecute all ethics proceedings before the Supreme Court, unless the Court or the Director requests the assistance of Board Counsel to do so; (6) seek from the Supreme Court judicial review of any final determination of the Board within the time and in the manner prescribed by the Rules of the Court; (7) transfer any matter pending before an Ethics Committee or Fee Committee to another district; (8) maintain records of all ethics and fee arbitration matters; (9) administer the programs of the Fee Committees in accordance with R. 1:20A-1 et seq., of the Ethics Committees in accordance with R. 1:20-3 et seq., and to render to both of them appropriate legal and administrative advice; (10) administer the Random Audit Compliance Program in accordance with R. 1:21-6(c); (11) prepare annually, jointly with Counsel for the Disciplinary Review Board, a proposed budget for the attorney disciplinary system of the state; (12) hire and discharge secretaries of Ethics Committees and Fee Committees and recommend and pay their compensation; (13) recommend to the Supreme Court the appointment and replacement of members of Ethics Committees and Fee Committees; (14) recommend the creation of new Ethics Committees and Fee Committees and the reorganization and termination of existing Ethics Committees and Fee Committees; (15) recommend to the Supreme Court rules and guidelines governing the procedures to be followed in all ethics and fee arbitration proceedings in this state; (16) hire and discharge all staff of the Office of Attorney Ethics consistent with personnel policies of the judiciary and subject to the approval of the Chief Justice, and to recommend the hiring of all ethics counsel to the Supreme Court; (17) select attorneys and non-attorneys from among former Ethics and Fee Committee members to act as hearing panel members; and (18) approve additional volunteer attorneys who are not members of an Ethics Committee to act as investigators or presenters. In all actions the Director shall exercise all of the investigative and prosecutorial authority of an Ethics Committee in addition to any authority invested in the Director under these rules.

(c) Advisory Opinions Prohibited. The Office of Attorney Ethics shall not render advisory opinions of any kind, either orally or in writing.

(d) Exemption From Costs As an agency of the Supreme Court, the Office of Attorney Ethics and any lawfully appointed designee shall be exempt from the payment of any Court costs required by rule of law of the State of New Jersey including, but not limited to, the filing or docketing of any document, deposit for costs or service of process.