“code of professional responsibility”

guidelines adopted by the American Bar Association in 1969. The Model Code is organized around nine canons, or standards of professional conduct for lawyers, with sections called ethical considerations and disciplinary rules following each one. The Code was updated until the adoption of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 1983, and served as a model for state legislation. By 1980 almost every state had a code regulating lawyers based on the Model Code. After 1983, many states repealed their codes and enacted legislation based on the Model Rules instead.