What are a Colorado lawyer's ethical duties when using paralegals and other nonlawyer assistants?
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This page answers the general question as of 1982. Ezel answers yours: whether it's allowed on your facts, under the current rules of professional conduct in your state, with citations.
Plain-English summary
Opinion 61 (adopted October 23, 1982; addendum issued 1995) sets out the ethical guidelines for a lawyer's use of nonlawyer assistants. The Committee recognized that properly used assistants who are not licensed lawyers significantly increase a lawyer's ability to provide quality services at reasonable cost, but stressed that a lawyer cannot delegate the lawyer's own ethical obligations or excuse a violation as the act of an employee.
The opinion lists seven guidelines. A lawyer must ascertain the assistant's abilities, limitations, and training, and limit the assistant's duties to what can be competently performed in view of them. A lawyer must educate and train assistants on the ethical standards that apply to the lawyer. A lawyer is responsible for monitoring and supervising assistants to prevent violations of those standards and to ensure assistants do not do anything the lawyer could not do. A lawyer must continually monitor and supervise assistants' work to ensure it is performed competently and professionally. A lawyer is responsible for ensuring that the assistant does not engage in the unauthorized practice of law. A lawyer must assume responsibility for an assistant's improper conduct and take appropriate action to prevent recurrence. And assistants who deal directly with clients must be identified to those clients as nonlawyers, with the lawyer responsible for ensuring clients understand the assistant's role and limitations.
This opinion is the foundational supervision standard the Committee applies elsewhere; it directs lawyers to read it together with Opinions 79 (use of legal assistants in client representation) and 84, and with the current Rules of Professional Conduct.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1982 under the former Colorado Code of Professional Responsibility, before the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct took effect on January 1, 1993, and before Colorado's 2008 revisions to those rules. A 1995 addendum mapped the guidelines to Rule 5.3 (responsibilities regarding nonlawyer assistants), Rule 1.6(d) (confidentiality by the lawyer's employees and associates), and Rule 5.5(b) (assisting the unauthorized practice of law). Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.
Common questions
Q: Could a Colorado lawyer blame an ethics violation on a paralegal?
A: No. The opinion stated that a lawyer cannot delegate the lawyer's ethical obligations by claiming the violation was the employee's, and that the lawyer must take responsibility for an assistant's improper conduct and prevent its recurrence.
Q: What did a lawyer have to do before assigning work to a nonlawyer assistant?
A: The opinion stated a lawyer must ascertain the assistant's abilities, limitations, and training, and limit the assistant's duties to those that can be competently performed in light of them, and must educate and train the assistant on the ethical standards that apply to the lawyer.
Q: Did clients have to be told they were dealing with a nonlawyer?
A: Yes. The opinion stated that assistants who deal directly with clients must be identified to those clients as nonlawyers, and that the lawyer is responsible for ensuring clients understand the assistant's role and its limitations.
Background and rules framework
The opinion sets ethical guidelines under the then-governing Colorado Code of Professional Responsibility for a lawyer's use of nonlawyer assistants, emphasizing competence, supervision, confidentiality, and the prohibition on aiding the unauthorized practice of law. The 1995 addendum and the modern Model Rules analogs are Rule 5.3 (responsibilities regarding nonlawyer assistants), Rule 1.6 (confidentiality, including by the lawyer's staff), and Rule 5.5 (unauthorized practice of law).
Citations and references
Rules of Professional Conduct:
- Colo. Code of Professional Responsibility (governing rules at issuance; ethical guidelines on the use of nonlawyer assistants)
- Colo. RPC 5.3 / Model Rule 5.3 (responsibilities regarding nonlawyer assistants; current analog)
- Colo. RPC 1.6(d) / Model Rule 1.6 (confidentiality, including by the lawyer's employees)
- Colo. RPC 5.5(b) / Model Rule 5.5 (assisting the unauthorized practice of law)
Other opinions cited:
- CBA Formal Op. 79 (1989): use of legal assistants in client representation
- CBA Formal Op. 84: related guidance on nonlawyer assistants
See also
- CBA Formal Op. 79: Nonlawyer Assistants at Depositions and Hearings
- ABA Formal Op. 506: Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistants
- ABA Formal Op. 08-451: Outsourcing Legal and Nonlegal Support Services
Source
- Landing page: https://www.cobar.org/ethicsopinions
- Original PDF: https://www.cobar.org/Portals/COBAR/repository/ethicsOpinions/FormalEthicsOpinion_61_2011.pdf
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