There would be some notable exceptions to the rule including where a lawyer is representing a spouse or registered domestic partner or where the sexual relationship preceded the professional relationship. The moves to ban sex between lawyer and client comes two years after some 17 states adopted a blanket sex ban drafted by the American Bar Association.

Final say

The new rule approved last week will now go before the California Supreme Court, which has final say over them. The bar’s ethics rules for attorneys were last fully revised in 1987. Lawyers who violate the regulations are subject to discipline ranging from private censure to loss of their legal license.

Investigations

It is reported that between September 1992 and January 2010, the state bar investigated 205 complaints of misconduct under the current sex restriction, imposing discipline in only a single case.