Acts or omissions by covered attorneys may constitute professional misconduct, criminal misconduct, poor performance of duty, or a combination of all three. Care must be taken to characterize appropriately the nature of a covered attorney's conduct to determine who may and properly should take official action.
(a) Questions of legal ethics and professional misconduct by covered attorneys are within the exclusive province of JAG. Ethical or professional misconduct will not be attributed to any covered attorney in any official record without a final JAG determination, made in accordance with this part, that such misconduct has occurred.
(b) Criminal misconduct is properly addressed by the covered USG attorney's commander through the disciplinary process provided under the UCMJ and implementing regulations, or through referral to appropriate civil authority.
(c) Poor performance of duty is properly addressed by the covered USG attorney's reporting senior through a variety of administrative actions, including documentation in fitness reports or employee appraisals.
(d) Prior JAG approval is not required to investigate allegations of criminal conduct or poor performance of duty involving covered attorneys. When, however, investigations into criminal conduct or poor performance reveal conduct that constitutes a violation of this part, or of the Code of Judicial Conduct in the case of judges, such conduct shall be reported to the Rules Counsel immediately.
(e) Inquiries into allegations of professional misconduct will normally be held in abeyance until any related criminal investigation or proceeding is complete. However, a pending criminal investigation or proceeding does not bar the initiation or completion of a professional misconduct investigation stemming from the same or related incidents or prevent the JAG from imposing professional disciplinary sanctions as provided for in this subpart.