The Bar Board of Governors has approved one rule change on training for judges when sitting as grievance referees and another change updating the Bar’s rules on incapacitated members.

At its March 28 meeting, the board ratified the recommendations of the Disciplinary Procedure Committee, and also looked at several rule amendments which could come at its May 30 meeting.

DPC Chair Andy Sasso said the change to Rule 3-7.6(a) specified that judges who are appointed as referees in Bar grievance cases must either have previous experience as referees or certify they have reviewed training materials provided by the Office of the State Courts Administrator.

The change to Rule 3-7.13 on incapacity not related to misconduct widens the causes for finding incapacity to conform with recent changes in state law, and also changes “incompetence” to “incapacity” throughout the rule, he said.

Those rules will now go to the Supreme Court for its review.

Board member Ben Kuehne raised a question about one proposed rule that may come before the board in May.

New Rule 3-5.4 codifies Bar policies on publishing and answering inquiries about disciplines.

Kuehne noted that the comment to the new rule specifically provides that while admonishments will not be published in the Bar News in Disciplinary Actions, they may be published electronically on the Bar’s Web site.

Current policies provide that only reprimands, probations, suspensions, and disbarments are published on the Web site.

Kuehne also said he’s heard from some lawyers who question why there is no correlation between the severity of a discipline and the length of time it is published on the Bar’s Web site.

Under current Bar policy, all sanctions other than admonishments are listed for 10 years.

Sasso said the committee will review those issues before the rule returns to the board.