Rule 219. Periodic assessment of attorneys; voluntary inactive status.

 (a)  Every attorney admitted to practice law in this Commonwealth, other than a military attorney holding a limited certificate of admission issued under Pennsylvania Bar Admission Rule 303 (relating to limited admission of military attorneys), shall pay an annual fee of $140.00 under this rule. The annual fee shall be collected under the supervision of the Administrative Office, which shall send and receive, or cause to be sent and received, the notices and statements provided for in this rule. The said fee shall be used to defray the costs of disciplinary administration and enforcement under these rules, and for such other purposes as the Board shall, with the approval of the Supreme Court, from time to time determine.

 (b)  Justices and Judges shall be exempt for such time as they serve in office.

 (c)  On or before May 15 of each year the Administrative Office shall transmit by ordinary mail to all persons required by this rule to pay an annual fee a form for completing the statement required by subdivision (d).

 (d)  On or before July 1 of each year all persons required by this rule to pay an annual fee shall file with the Administrative Office a signed statement on the form prescribed by the Administrative Office in accordance with the following procedures:

   (1)  The statement shall set forth:

     (i)   The date on which the attorney was first admitted to practice, licensed as a foreign legal consultant, or issued a Limited In-House Corporate Counsel License, and a list of all courts (except courts of this Commonwealth) and jurisdictions in which the person has ever been licensed to practice law, with the current status thereof.

     (ii)   The current residence and office addresses of the attorney, each of which address shall be an actual street address or rural route box number, and the Administrative Office shall refuse to accept a statement that sets forth only a post office box number for either required address. A preferred mailing address different from those addresses may also be provided on the statement and may be a post office box number. The attorney shall indicate which of the addresses, the residence, office or mailing address, will be accessible through the website of the Board (http://www.padisciplinaryboard.org/) and by written or oral request to the Board.

   Official Note

   Public web docket sheets will show the attorney’s address as entered on the court docket.

     (iii)   The name of each financial institution in this Commonwealth in which the attorney on May 1 of the current year or at any time during the preceding 12 months held funds of a client or a third person subject to Rule 1.15 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct. The statement shall include the name and account number for each account in which the lawyer holds such funds, and each IOLTA Account shall be identified as such. The statement provided to a person holding a Limited In-House Corporate Counsel License need not request the information required by this subparagraph.

     (iv)   A statement that the attorney is familiar and in compliance with Rule 1.15 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct regarding the handling of funds and other property of clients and others and the maintenance of IOLTA Accounts, and with Rule 221 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement regarding the mandatory reporting of overdrafts on fiduciary accounts.

     (v)   A statement that any action brought against the attorney by the Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security for the recovery of monies paid by the Fund as a result of claims against the attorney may be brought in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny, Dauphin or Philadelphia County.

     (vi)   Such other information as the Administrative Office may from time to time direct.

   (2)  Payment of the annual fee shall accompany the statement. Where a check in payment of the annual fee has been returned to the Board unpaid, the annual fee shall not be deemed to have been paid until a collection fee shall also have been paid. The amount of the collection fee shall be established by the Board annually after giving due regard to the direct and indirect costs incurred by the Board during the preceding year for checks returned to the Board unpaid.

   (3)  Every person who has filed such a statement shall notify the Administrative Office in writing of any change in the information previously submitted within 30 days after such change.

   (4)  Upon original admission to the bar of this Commonwealth, licensure as a foreign legal consultant, or issuance of a Limited In-House Corporate Counsel License, a person shall concurrently file a statement under this subdivision for the current assessment year, but no annual fee shall be payable for the assessment year in which originally admitted or licensed.

 (e)  Within 20 days of the receipt of a statement, or notice of change of information contained therein, filed by an attorney in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (d), and of payment of any required annual fee, receipt thereof shall be acknowledged, on a certificate issued by the Court Administrator of Pennsylvania, evidencing compliance with such subdivision.

 (f)  The Administrative Office shall transmit by certified mail, return receipt requested, to every attorney who fails to timely file the statement and pay the annual fee required by this rule, addressed to the last known address of the attorney, a notice stating:

   (1)  That unless the attorney shall comply with the requirements of subdivision (d) within 30 days after the date of the notice, such failure to comply will be deemed a request for transfer to inactive status, and at the end of such period the name of the attorney will be certified to the Supreme Court, which will immediately enter an order transferring the attorney to inactive status.

   (2)  That upon the entry of the order transferring the attorney to inactive status, the attorney shall comply with Enforcement Rule 217 (relating to formerly admitted attorneys), a copy of which shall be enclosed with the notice.

 (g)  The Administrative Office or the Board shall certify to the Supreme Court the names of every attorney who has failed to respond to a notice issued pursuant to subdivisions (f) and (k) within the 30-day period provided therein and the Court shall immediately enter an order transferring the attorney to inactive status. A copy of any such certification from the Administrative Office to the Supreme Court shall be given to the Board. The Chief Justice may delegate the processing and entry of orders under this subdivision to the Prothonotary.

 (h)(1) Upon compliance by a formerly admitted attorney with the provisions of subdivision (d), including payment of all arrears due from the date to which such person was last paid, the Administrative Office shall so certify to the Board and to the Supreme Court. Unless such person is subject to another outstanding order of suspension or disbarment or the order has been in effect for more than three years, the filing of the certificate from the Administrative Office with the Prothonotary of the Supreme Court shall operate as an order reinstating the person to active status.

   (2)  For the purposes of this rule arrearages shall include a late payment penalty payable by every attorney to whom a notice has been transmitted under subdivision (f) of this rule plus the actual cost of any publication effected pursuant to Enforcement Rule 217(f). The amount of the late payment penalty shall be established by the Board annually after giving due regard to such factors as it considers relevant, including the direct and indirect costs incurred by the Board during the preceding year in processing the records of attorneys who fail to timely file the statement required by subdivision (d) of this rule.

 (i)  An attorney who has retired, is not engaged in practice or who has sold his or her practice pursuant to Rule 1.17 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct shall file with the Administrative Office a notice in writing that the attorney desires voluntarily to assume inactive status and discontinue the practice of law. Upon the transmission of such notice from the Administrative Office to the Supreme Court, the Court shall enter an order transferring the attorney to inactive status, and the attorney shall no longer be eligible to practice law but shall continue to file the statement required by this rule for six years thereafter in order that the formerly admitted attorney can be located in the event complaints are made about the conduct of such person while such person was engaged in practice. The formerly admitted attorney, however, will be relieved from the payment of the fee imposed by this rule upon active practitioners and Enforcement Rule 217 (relating to formerly admitted attorneys) shall not be applicable to the formerly admitted attorney unless ordered by the Court in connection with the entry of an order of suspension or disbarment under another provision of these rules. The Chief Justice may delegate the processing and entry of orders under this subdivision to the Prothonotary.

 (j)  Upon the filing of a notice voluntarily to assume inactive status, an attorney shall be removed from the roll of those classified as active until and unless such person requests and is granted reinstatement to the active rolls. Reinstatement shall be granted unless the formerly admitted attorney is subject to an outstanding order of suspension or disbarment or unless the order has been in effect for more than three years, upon the payment of any assessment in effect for the assessment year in which the request is made and any arrears accumulated prior to transfer to inactive status. Disciplinary proceedings may be initiated and maintained against a formerly admitted attorney who has voluntarily assumed inactive status. See Rule 201(a)(3).

 (k)  The Board shall transmit by certified mail, return receipt requested, to every attorney who fails to pay any expenses taxed pursuant to Enforcement Rule 208(g) (relating to costs), addressed to the last known address of the attorney, a notice stating:

   (1)  That unless the attorney shall pay all such expenses within 30 days after the date of the notice, such failure to pay will be deemed a request for transfer to inactive status, and at the end of such period the name of the attorney will be certified to the Supreme Court, which will immediately enter an order transferring the attorney to inactive status.

   (2)  That upon entry of the order transferring the attorney to inactive status the attorney shall comply with Enforcement Rule 217 (relating to formerly admitted attorneys), a copy of which shall be enclosed with the notice.

 (l)  Upon payment of all expenses taxed pursuant to Enforcement Rule 208(g) by a formerly admitted attorney transferred to inactive status solely for failure to comply with subdivision (k), the Board shall so certify to the Supreme Court. Unless such person is subject to another outstanding order of suspension or disbarment or the order has been in effect for more than three years, the filing of the certification from the Board with the Prothonotary of the Supreme Court shall operate as an order reinstating the person to active status.

 (m)  A former or retired justice or judge who is not the subject of an outstanding order of discipline affecting his or her right to practice law and who wishes to resume the practice of law shall file with the Administrative Office a notice in writing to that effect. The notice shall:

     (i)   describe:

       (A)   any discipline imposed within six years before the date of the notice upon the justice or judge by the Court of Judicial Discipline or the former Judicial Inquiry and Review Board;

       (B)   any proceeding before the Judicial Conduct Board or the Court of Judicial Discipline settled within six years before the date of the notice on the condition that the justice or judge resign from judicial office or enter a rehabilitation program;

     (ii)   include a waiver by the justice or judge, if the notice discloses a proceeding described in paragraph (i), of the confidentiality of the record in that proceeding for the limited purpose of making the record available to the Board in any subsequent proceeding under these rules;

     (iii)   be accompanied by payment of the full annual fee for the assessment year in which the notice is filed.

   The provisions of this Rule 219 amended through December 20, 1983, effective July 1, 1984, 14 Pa.B. 5; amended May 10, 1989, effective July 1, 1989, 19 Pa.B. 2245; amended November 26, 1990, effective with respect to assessment years commencing on or after July 1, 1991, 20 Pa.B. 6141; amended March 13, 1991, effective July 1, 1991, 21 Pa.B. 1424; amended October 18, 1991, effective with respect to assessment years commencing July 1, 1992 and thereafter, 21 Pa.B. 5254; amended March 4, 1993, effective with respect to assessment years commencing on and after July 1, 1993, 23 Pa.B. 1685; amended March 15, 1994, effective upon publication, 24 Pa.B. 1672; amended April 18, 1995, effective immediately, 25 Pa.B. 1766; amended April 3, 1996, effective July 1, 1996, 26 Pa.B. 1806; amended July 17, 1996, effective September 1, 1996, 26 Pa.B. 3624; amended April 9, 1998, effective upon publication and applicable beginning with the 1998—1999 assessment year, 28 Pa.B. 2024; amended May 15, 2001, effective immediately, 31 Pa.B. 2788; amended June 28, 2001, effective July 14, 2001, 31 Pa.B. 3728; amended March 17, 2005, effective September 1, 2005, 35 Pa.B. 1972; amended October 13, 2005, effective October 29, 2005, 35 Pa.B. 5954; amended April 10, 2007, effective upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and shall be applicable beginning with the 2007-2008 assessment year; amended April 1, 2008, effective for the 2008-2009 assessment, 38 Pa.B. 1701. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (326983) to (326984), (315195) to (315196) and (326985).