Remember the metric system? Depending on your age, you may recall being told that the good old, but backward, United States was finally going to “get with it” and convert to the metric system like the rest of the civilized world, and that, as a result, you would have to learn how to do the conversions. “It’s all based on the decimal system, so it’s easy,” we were told. “No more arbitrary inches, yards, and miles. And, anyway, who cares if a foot was the actual measurement of Charlemagne’s foot?” It all sounded sensible in theory, but in practice it was just impossible to learn the conversions. Head splitting formulas, fractions, decimals—please! So, before you knew it, thanks to stubborn Americans with inferior math skills, the whole project collapsed, never to rear its ugly metric-sized head again.

Indeed, when New York adopted a new set of ethics rules for lawyers this April, it sounded all-too familiar. New York’s old rules, with its nine Canons, “DRs” and “ECs” were, like those archaic inches and yards, near and dear to lawyers throughout the state. We knew them. We knew where everything was. The new rules do away with the old designations, adopt the numbering and format of the ABA Model Rules, and, like the pesky metric system, are supposed to be more uniform and easier to use. They bring New York in line with most other states, and lawyers in New York and their clients are supposed to benefit from the uniformity. Only time will tell, but a healthy dose of skepticism may be required.

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