1990 Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct

RULE 3.1    Meritorious Claims and Contentions [revisions to 1990 Rule are indicated as follows: text deleted from the 1990 Rule is shown by strikethrough; additions to the 1990 Rule are shown in red]    

A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact  for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good-faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law.  A lawyer for the defendant in a criminal proceeding, or the respondent in a proceeding that could result in incarceration, may nevertheless so defend the proceeding as to require that every element of the case be established.

Adopted February 8, 1990, effective August 1, 1990.