VT has never enforced 8.3 (and virtually never 3.1) despite its own Survey showing that >30% of its lawyers see 3.1 violations every year and >90% believe the increased lack of professionalism and civility increases costs and reduces the public’s confidence in the justice system.

These facts are public. Privately, VT BEAs have with no good faith basis asserted that: (a) they can’t enforce while litigation is pending; (b) 3.1 doesn’t apply to them; and (c) 8.3 doesn’t apply to violations by non-VT attorneys even when they are told in VT. These assertions remained private until RTL exposed them, because VT BEAs operate in secret and their decisions not to enforce are not appealable. See Honor Code Broken, a draft article provided to VT’s BEAs and Bar Association in 2024 & 2025 with unanswered invitations to identify any statements believed to be incorrect or unpublishable.

One judge attributes VT’s enforcement failures to the small size of its Bar (HCB at 2), but that can’t be it, since VT’s Bar is 8 times the size it was 40 years ago (with over 5 times as many lawyers per capita), when no such scandal was even suggested. The cause is likely one of simple cronyism (“loyalty-over-law”). Three real-world examples include two cases (Riley & Spaulding) and attorney-enabled actions of a small town.