The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), part of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and supervised by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, is responsible for investigating

lawyers A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...

employed by the Department of Justice who have been accused of misconduct or crime in the exercise of their professional functions.

History

The OPR was established in 1975 by order of then

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Edward Levi, following revelations of

ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...

abuse and serious misconduct by senior DOJ officials during the

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. The order directed OPR to "receive and review any information concerning conduct by a Department employee that may be in violation of law, regulations or orders, or applicable standards of conduct."

Mission

OPR's primary mission is to ensure that DOJ attorneys perform their duties in accordance with professional standards. The OPR promulgates independent standards of ethical and criminal conduct for DOJ attorneys, while the DOJ's

Office of the Inspector General In the United States, Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a generic term for the oversight division of a List of federal agencies in the United States, federal or state agency aimed at preventing inefficient or unlawful operations within their p ...

(OIG) has jurisdiction of non-attorney DOJ employees. The OPR receives reports of allegations of misconduct made against DOJ attorneys from many sources. Nearly half of all such allegations are reported to OPR by DOJ sources, such as the attorney involved. The remaining complaints come from a variety of sources, including private attorneys, defendants and civil litigants, other federal agencies,

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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officials, judicial and congressional referrals, and media reports. OPR gives expedited attention to judicial findings of misconduct. The OPR reviews each allegation and determines whether further investigation is warranted. The determination is a matter of investigative judgment that weighs many factors, including the nature of the allegation, its apparent credibility, its specificity, its susceptibility to verification, and the source of the allegation. A decision to open a matter does not give rise to a presumption of misconduct, nor shift the burden of proof to the accused person. The OPR's investigations involve a wide range of allegations, and the investigative methods used vary accordingly. In many cases, the OPR notifies the accused attorney and requests a written response. Sometimes, the OPR also makes on-site investigations. The OPR reports the results of the investigation to the component head concerned and to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. The OPR also advises the complainant and the accused attorney of its conclusion.

List of directors

References

External links

* {{authority control United States Department of Justice agencies Department of Justice