In an Order published at 56 Pa.Bulletin 788 (2/7/2026), the Disciplinary Board has adopted amendments to its rules regarding conservatorship proceedings.
The Order amends the Board Rules and Procedures to conform to Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement 321, 322, 324, 325, 327, and 328 (relating to conservators for the interests of clients).
Section 91.121 [appointment of conservator to protect interests of clients of absent attorney] is amended to add new language to allow the court appointing a guardian to adopt, as its findings of fact and statement of grounds, some or all of the allegations of the application for appointment of a conservator and attach the application to the appointing order.
Section 91.122 [duties of conservator] is the subject of several amendments.
Section 91.122(a)(4) contains new language requiring a conservator to publish notice of the appointment which shall, at minimum, appear on one day in both a newspaper of general circulation and the legal journal in the county in which the absent attorney maintained a principal office.
Subsection (a)(5) is amended to delete a requirement that the conservator deliver all receipts to the appointing court at the time of filing the application for discharge and provides instead that the conservator must maintain an electronic record of all receipts.
Subsection (b) forbids either the conservator or any partner, associate, or other lawyer practicing in association with the conservator to represent any of the absent attorney’s clients in connection with any matter identified during the conservatorship. With the consent of the client, the conservator may refer a client’s matter to a lawyer other than a lawyer disqualified from providing representation. The conservator may not receive a referral fee. Language forbidding the conservator from representing any of the absent lawyer’s clients for three years is eliminated.
Amendments to Section 91.125 [duration of conservatorship] expand the interval for which the appointing court may extend the conservatorship from six to nine months, and allow the court to grant one or more extensions of the appointment, each extension not to exceed six months. A requirement for showing extraordinary circumstances to justify extensions is eliminated.
Section 91.127 [liability of conservator] is amended to provide that the conservator shall be immune from civil suit brought by or on behalf of the absent attorney. It previously stated that the conservator was immune from “separate” suit.
The amendments are effective thirty days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, or on March 9, 2026.