Illinois State Bar Association Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Illinois State Bar Association, with full citations and source links on every page.
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May an Illinois lawyer affiliate with a for-profit client referral service that charges clients a fixed fee, splits the fee with the lawyer, offers a money-back guarantee, uses non-attorney actors in ads, and requires lawyer-client communications on its monitored online platform?
The opinion concludes no. The money-back guarantee is a prohibited paid recommendation (Rule 7.2(a)) and misleads about the lawyer's services (Rule 7.1); the lawyer-service fee split violates Rule 5.4…
When an Illinois lawyer moves from partner to a continuing relationship with the firm, may the firm use 'senior counsel,' 'special counsel,' or 'counsel' instead of 'of counsel' to describe the lawyer?
The opinion concludes yes. Illinois Rule 7.5(a) (read with Rule 7.1) permits any of those terms to describe a lawyer who has a close, regular, and continuing relationship with the firm. The opinion wa…
Can a firm restructuring as a PLLC keep deceased and retired partners' names in its name, and who can be 'of counsel'?
Yes. After restructuring as a PLLC the firm may keep the deceased and retired partners' names where there has been a continuing succession in the firm's identity and the public is not misled; an 'of c…
Can an Illinois lawyer pay to join a for-profit online service that matches consumers with lawyers?
Yes, on these facts, if the matches are automated without the service's discretion, the service does not endorse the lawyer, it stays out of any resulting representation, and the lawyer's fee is reaso…
When a named partner stops practicing law for a non-legal career, must the firm drop their name, and can it list them as 'Of Counsel'?
The firm may not hold the two out as a partnership once one stops practicing, and may not label that lawyer 'Of Counsel' without a continuing, regular relationship; a retired partner's name may stay i…
Can a law firm put a link to another business on its website?
Yes. The rules do not bar website links, but the lawyer must not link to a site with false or misleading information about the lawyer or the lawyer's services, and a reciprocal-referral arrangement tr…
Can a lawyer wear clothing with the firm's logo and practice area during a TV interview?
Yes. Wearing firm-logo apparel on television is lawyer advertising governed by Rules 7.1 and 7.2; it is permitted as long as the information is truthful and not misleading and the firm name and locati…
Can a lawyer licensed only in another state mail solicitations to Illinois accident victims?
Yes, soliciting Illinois clients is not itself unauthorized practice after the 2010 Rule 5.5 changes, but the mailing must follow Illinois advertising rules: disclose the lawyer is not licensed in Ill…
Can a lawyer licensed only in another state represent a party in an Illinois grievance arbitration, and how may that lawyer advertise in Illinois?
Yes, on a temporary basis. Rule 5.5(c)(3) lets an out-of-state lawyer who is not disbarred or suspended provide legal services for a grievance arbitration in Illinois if the services are temporary, re…
Can an Illinois lawyer label a soliciting mailing 'promotional materials' instead of 'Advertising Material' to satisfy Rule 7.3(c)?
No. Rule 7.3(c) requires the specific words 'Advertising Material'; labeling a solicitation 'promotional materials' does not comply. The labeling requirement applies only to direct solicitations of pr…
Can a law firm hire a marketing company to distribute ads, screen responses, and be paid a percentage of fees from clients it brings in?
The firm may have a marketing company distribute mailed, posted, and door-to-door ads, but the company may not make personal contact, may not screen responses for merit, and may not be paid a share of…
Can a lawyer list a non-legal professional certification, like a Certified Trust Financial Advisor designation, on a business card?
Yes. The opinion concludes a lawyer may list a non-legal accreditation such as CTFA on a business card, because it is not a subspecialty of law within Rule 7.4 and, given the credential's bona fide re…
Can an Illinois lawyer list a Supreme Court Capital Litigation Trial Bar certification on letterhead without the no-specialty disclaimer?
Yes. The opinion concludes that Supreme Court Rule 714, which has the Court itself certify Capital Litigation Trial Bar members, is the more recent and controlling rule, so a lawyer may list that cert…
Can a law firm keep a departed, retired, or of-counsel lawyer's name in the firm name, or name non-shareholders in a PC?
A firm name may not imply a partnership or shareholder status that does not exist, and a partner who leaves to join another firm must be dropped; a retired or of-counsel lawyer's name may stay if the …
Can a lawyer run a pay-per-call prerecorded legal information line and co-own the venture with a non-lawyer?
The opinion concluded a prerecorded paid legal-information line is not per se improper if the ad complies with the advertising rules, fees for preparing the recording may be shared with a non-lawyer, …
Can a lawyer accept referrals from, work for, or serve as an officer of a for-profit lawyer referral service?
No. The opinion concluded a lawyer may not participate or assist in any way in a business operating as a for-profit lawyer referral service, especially one that solicits cases by methods a lawyer coul…
Can a lawyer hire someone to hand out brochures and sign up injury clients in person?
No. In-person solicitation of prospective clients for the lawyer's pecuniary gain is improper whether the lawyer does it personally or through an employee or other representative.
May an Illinois lawyer email clients without encryption, and do the solicitation rules apply to a law firm web site?
Yes, unencrypted email (including over the Internet) does not violate confidentiality absent unusual circumstances. A passive web site is advertising, not solicitation, but targeted online messages tr…
Can an Illinois firm advertise that it 'specializes' in a field, and can it farm work out to outside lawyers without telling the client?
A firm may say it 'concentrates' in a field but may not claim to 'specialize,' and it may not delegate the matter to lawyers outside the firm without the client's disclosure and consent.
Can lawyers pay to practice under the name of a corporation like 'Real Estate Attorneys, Inc.' owned by a nonlawyer broker?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer's participation in a network of independent lawyers holding themselves out under the name of a nonlawyer-owned corporation violates the Rules in several ways, inclu…
Can a lawyer hand out legal-rights pamphlets with the lawyer's name and number at public seminars and through community advocates?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may distribute printed legal-information materials bearing the lawyer's name at public seminars and through community advocates, so long as the materials name a lawyer r…
Can an Illinois lawyer join a for-profit lawyer referral service that pays the service for sending clients?
The opinion concluded that an Illinois lawyer may not participate in a for-profit lawyer referral service, because Rule 7.2(b) permits paying the usual charges only of a not-for-profit lawyer referral…
Can a law firm staff a for-profit car-phone legal-advice hotline run and advertised by a nonlawyer company?
The opinion concluded that a firm's participation in a for-profit cellular legal-advice hotline run by nonlawyers is professionally improper, because the promotion is misleading and omits a responsibl…
Can a law firm team up with a health-care organization to market and run seminars on advance directives and then prepare them?
The opinion concluded that a firm may run advance-directive seminars with a health-care organization so long as the firm performs all legal services, any payment to the organization is limited to the …
Can an Illinois lawyer pay to participate in a for-profit telephone or computerized client referral service?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may not participate in a for-profit computerized telephone referral service, because Rule 7.2(b) permits paying the usual charges only of a not-for-profit referral …
Can a lawyer pull names of DUI defendants from court files and mail them solicitation letters?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may send targeted direct-mail solicitations to a group of people already involved in litigation, such as recently charged DUI defendants, so long as the mailing com…
Can a lawyer run a divorce mediation business with a nonlawyer out of the law office?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may operate a divorce mediation business with a nonlawyer and run part of it from the law office, provided the lawyer does not represent either party in the underly…
Can a lawyer charge a contingent fee for non-litigation work like a securities registration, combine it with hourly fees, and advertise it?
The opinion concluded a contingent fee for non-litigation work such as securities registration is not improper if it meets Rule 1.5(c) and violates no other law, that combining hourly and contingent f…
Can a lawyer send targeted mail soliciting people known to need legal help, such as accident victims named in news reports?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may initiate contact by mail with prospective clients known to be likely to need legal services, provided the envelope and letter are plainly labeled as advertising mate…
Can a lawyer who also sells insurance and investments sell those products to legal clients, advertise the side business, and have clients waive that any product advice is legal advice?
The opinion concluded a dual-profession lawyer may sell products to legal clients with disclosure and consent, may advertise and accept legal work from product customers, and may be named as a lawyer …
Can a lawyer run a separate non-legal business out of the same office as the law practice?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may operate a separate non-legal business (here, computer analysis of structured-settlement values) from the existing law office, because Illinois repealed the rule barr…
Can a renamed law firm list a former firm name on its letterhead, and claim a prior affiliation with the firm its founders left years earlier?
The opinion concluded the firm may state its own former name, but may not claim a prior affiliation with the separate firm some of its lawyers left in 1976; there was no continuing line of succession,…
Can a law firm list nonlawyer employees, such as paralegals, office managers, and legal assistants, on its letterhead?
The opinion concluded yes; nonlawyer employees may be named on firm letterhead as long as it is not misleading and the person's nonlawyer status is clearly indicated.
Can a lawyer who is also a CPA run a law practice and an accounting practice from the same office, sharing a receptionist, clerical worker, and reception area?
The opinion concluded yes; after the 1984 repeal of the Code provision that forced physical separation of dual practices, a lawyer-CPA may practice both from one office and share staff, subject to the…
Can a firm run a separate practice area under a different name, or set up an owned-and-controlled satellite firm, without disclosing that its lawyers belong to the original firm?
The opinion concluded no; lawyers in a firm may not hold themselves out as practicing independently or under a non-existent firm name, because that misleads the public about who they are dealing with.
Can a lawyer sponsor a sports team and have the sponsorship, including the lawyer's name and firm, publicized in connection with the team?
The opinion concluded yes; an attorney may sponsor an athletic team and publicize that sponsorship, including the firm name, as a permitted form of lawyer advertising, modifying an earlier opinion tha…
Can a law firm keep showing its former name on letterhead or in ads after a named partner is suspended from practice?
The opinion concluded no; a firm may not show on its letterhead or in a Yellow Pages ad that it was formerly known by a name including a suspended lawyer's name, because the public is likely to be mis…
Can a lawyer who was an associate, not a partner, of a now-deceased lawyer name the new firm after both of them?
The opinion concluded no; because the associate and the deceased lawyer were never partners and no such firm existed before the death, a name combining both falsely implies a prior partnership and suc…
Can a lawyer use a paid Welcome Wagon service, or in-person visits, to deliver advertising to new residents and newlyweds?
The opinion concluded that after a 1984 rule amendment a lawyer may mail labeled advertising to the general public, but may not deliver it in person and may not pay a Welcome Wagon service to deliver …
Can a lawyer use a Welcome Wagon service or targeted mailings to solicit newcomers, newlyweds, and new parents?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may not solicit a targeted group of individuals, in person or by mail, directly or through a Welcome Wagon service, but may place generalized advertising in a newsp…
Can a law firm give clients pens imprinted with the firm name, address, phone number, and practice areas?
The opinion concluded a firm may distribute nominal-value imprinted pens, treating it as permitted advertising, provided an individual lawyer's name appears on the pen; it overruled earlier opinions t…
Can lawyers who only share office space and overhead, without sharing fees, use common letterhead or stationery?
The opinion concluded no; lawyers in an office-sharing arrangement who do not share fees may not use common stationery, because it would mislead the public about their relationship and about who is re…
Can a lawyer write a general-interest legal article for a newspaper with an author credit, and publicize the firm's attendance at CLE seminars?
The opinion concluded yes to both; a lawyer may cooperate in publishing a general legal article with an authorship credit, and lawyers may release news of their attendance at continuing legal educatio…
Can a lawyer let his name appear on a project billboard stating that he provided the legal work for a construction project?
The opinion concluded yes; a lawyer may permit his name to appear on a billboard noting that he did the legal work for a project, as long as the advertisement is not misleading, which here meant ident…
Can a lawyer advertise a tax LLM and a field of concentration, and send referral-availability letters to other lawyers, but not to nonlawyer referral sources?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may state his degree and field of concentration in public advertising and on stationery, and may send referral-availability letters to lawyers in and outside Illinois, b…
Can a lawyer advertise practice in a field even though his name closely resembles a better-known lawyer in the same field?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may advertise availability in a field even though his name is confusingly similar to a more experienced lawyer in the same field, so long as the advertising is not calcu…
Can a lawyer send letters to non-clients offering to conduct seminars on legal issues currently affecting them?
The opinion concluded it is not improper for a lawyer to write non-clients offering to conduct seminars on legal subjects of current concern, because the letters do not recommend or solicit employment…
Can a law firm keep a deceased partner's name in the firm name when it adds a new partner, even though some current lawyers never practiced with the deceased partner?
The opinion concluded it was professionally proper to retain a deceased member's name in the firm name where the firm is a bona fide successor in a continuing line and the public is not misled, and su…
Can a law firm that opened a branch office mail every postal patron in the community a letter announcing the office and listing the firm's fields of practice?
The opinion concluded it was not improper for the firm to mail all postal patrons a letter announcing the new branch office and stating the firm's areas of practice, because the letter was a permitted…
Can a lawyer with a sports-law practice tell college athletic directors and coaches he is available to represent athletes, and run that player representation from his regular law office?
The opinion concluded that representing athletes in contract negotiations and business counseling is the practice of law, so it was professionally proper to conduct that player representation from the…
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Legal ethics opinions from the Illinois State Bar Association interpret the rules of professional conduct for working lawyers, in response to inquiries from members and committees. They are not binding like court discipline decisions, but courts and discipline boards treat formal opinions as substantial guidance on how the rules apply. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the original source on the bar's site.