Professional Ethics and Confidentiality
What the exam tests
This domain tests impartiality, confidentiality, conflicts, competence, and handling sensitive records. New Mexico reporters encounter sealed documents, juvenile matters, grand jury testimony, adoptions, and protected personal identifiers. Questions ask what to do when asked to disclose, alter, or discuss a transcript.
Core rules
- Remain neutral: do not give legal advice, coach a witness, or edit testimony to help a party.
- Preserve confidentiality of sealed, expunged, juvenile, grand jury, and adoption records; release transcripts only as authorized by court order or rule.
- Do not discuss testimony or case information outside the proceeding; avoid social media posts that identify parties or witnesses.
- Disclose conflicts: prior relationships with parties, attorneys, or judges that could affect impartiality.
- Maintain competence through continuing education and accurate equipment; a reporter who cannot produce a reliable record should notify the court.
- Never alter a certified transcript; correct through the errata or court-order process.
Worked example
After a sealed hearing, an attorney asks the reporter for a “quick copy” of the transcript to share with a client. The reporter should decline unless the court’s sealing order or a later order permits release. Reasoning: the sealing order controls disclosure; the reporter’s duty of confidentiality continues after the hearing, and informal release can violate the order and ethical rules.
Traps
Releasing sealed transcripts; accepting a gift from a party; “cleaning up” grammar in a certified transcript; discussing testimony in a courthouse hallway; failing to disclose a close relationship with counsel; assuming e-filing makes a sealed record public.