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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What must an Illinois lawyer do when they learn that the lawyer who hired them on a matter has been removed from the Master Roll of Attorneys for MCLE noncompliance?
The opinion concludes the lawyer must first notify the hiring lawyer and may not continue working with the hiring lawyer unless reinstatement occurs; if the hiring lawyer is not reinstated, the lawyer…
Can a lawyer not licensed in Illinois represent an Illinois business on transactional and IP matters, and does associating with an Illinois lawyer cure any UPL concern?
The opinion concludes that a non-Illinois lawyer may advise an Illinois business under Rule 5.5(c) if one of its temporary-practice exceptions applies (notably 5.5(c)(1)'s association with an actively…
May a Florida-admitted lawyer with no Illinois bar admission send a demand letter to an Illinois business on behalf of an Illinois-resident friend in an employment matter?
Per the opinion, no on these facts. The committee concludes that sending a demand letter to resolve an Illinois dispute is the practice of law in Illinois, and none of the temporary-practice exception…
Can an Illinois lawyer practice Illinois law, including appearing virtually in Illinois courts, while physically located in another state?
Yes. The Illinois Rules do not bar an Illinois-licensed lawyer from practicing Illinois law from a location outside Illinois, including virtual appearances in Illinois matters; the lawyer should check…
Can an out-of-state lawyer at an Illinois firm, awaiting Illinois admission, work from an Illinois office on her existing cases and on Illinois matters?
Yes. She may work from an Illinois office on cases in courts where she is admitted if those jurisdictions allow it (Rule 5.5(d)(2)), and may support the firm's Illinois matters under Illinois-lawyer s…
Can a law firm give an unlicensed law school graduate first-year associate work before they pass the bar?
Yes. A supervised law school graduate awaiting admission may do most first-year associate work, except appearing in a legal proceeding, as long as neither the graduate nor the firm misrepresents the g…
Can an out-of-state in-house patent lawyer practice before the USPTO from an Illinois office without an Illinois license?
Yes. Under Rule 5.5(d)(2)'s federal-practice exception, a USPTO-registered patent lawyer admitted in another state may do USPTO work from an Illinois office without a Rule 716 limited license, but onl…
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 employed by a non-lawyer company represent the company's customers in their legal matters?
No. A staff attorney for a financial services company may not handle the customers' Social Security appeals: it creates a materially limiting conflict, risks assisting the company's unauthorized pract…
May a lawyer not admitted in Illinois run an Illinois immigration practice using a nonlawyer assistant?
Yes. Although Rule 5.5(b) bars an out-of-state lawyer from a systematic Illinois practice presence, the Rule 5.5(d)(2) federal-law exception lets an out-of-state lawyer practice immigration law (a fed…
Is it the unauthorized practice of law in Illinois for a nonlawyer to represent a party in a FINRA arbitration, and what must a lawyer-arbitrator do about it?
Generally yes. A nonlawyer representing a party in a typical FINRA arbitration is engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Illinois, because the work (pleadings, discovery, briefs, examining wit…
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 a lawyer licensed only in another state primarily practice in Illinois if an Illinois-licensed partner supervises the Illinois matters?
No. Rule 5.5(b) bars a lawyer not admitted in Illinois from establishing a systematic and continuous presence in Illinois for the practice of law, even with an Illinois-licensed partner supervising an…
Can a lawyer sign a confidentiality agreement promising never to use a consultant's legal ideas for other clients?
No, where the ideas are legal interpretations the lawyer would use for other clients. Signing such an agreement creates a concurrent conflict under Rule 1.7 with the lawyer's other and future clients,…
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 an Illinois lawyer negotiate a client's out-of-state injury claim from his home office without associating local counsel?
Yes, on these facts. The opinion concludes an Illinois lawyer who negotiates a client's medical claim in another state from his own office, where no suit is filed, does not commit the unauthorized pra…
Can a corporation offer legal services to its customers through its own in-house lawyers, and can a lawyer help it do so?
No. A management-services corporation that provides legal services to outside customers through its in-house lawyers engages in the unauthorized practice of law, and a lawyer who helps it do so acts i…
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 an accountant prepare a client's articles of incorporation, or is that the unauthorized practice of law?
The opinion concluded that while individuals may complete and file their own corporate documents, a nonlawyer (including an accountant) who gives another person assistance or advice in completing arti…
Can a lawyer pay a nonlawyer tax representative marketing or consulting fees for referring property-tax assessment cases?
The opinion concluded that it is professionally improper for a lawyer to participate in an arrangement where a nonlawyer engages in the unauthorized practice of law and the lawyer obtains referrals in…
Can a lawyer prepare real estate closing documents but leave it to the broker to explain them and resolve legal questions at closing?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer who limits the representation to drafting closing documents and leaves the explanation of those documents and resolution of legal questions to the real estate broke…
Is it unauthorized practice for a nonlawyer to represent an employer at an Illinois unemployment-benefits hearing, and do lawyers in the same hearing aid it?
The opinion concluded that an employer's use of nonlawyers to prepare and present evidence and examine witnesses at unemployment hearings is the unauthorized practice of law, but that a lawyer who par…
Can an Illinois lawyer take a case where a non-lawyer business pays the fee and steers the client to the lawyer?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may be retained and paid by a third party so long as the third party is authorized to retain the lawyer, does not direct the lawyer's judgment, and the lawyer does not s…
Can a lawyer take on a client who was first advised and worked up by a nonlawyer claims-investigation firm?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer does not aid the unauthorized practice of law by merely accepting a client previously served by a nonlawyer claims firm, so long as the lawyer independently pursues…
Can a lawyer take landlord-tenant work referred through a real estate brokers' association?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may represent property owners (or their agent-managers) through a real estate brokers' association, provided the agents are authorized to employ counsel, there is n…
Can a lawyer review and finalize estate planning documents that a financial planning company gathered information for and drafted, then sent to the client's chosen attorney?
The opinion concluded the lawyer may aid the company's unauthorized practice of law under Rule 5.5(b), because the company advises clients on and prepares the documents before the lawyer's review, and…
Can a lawyer join a collection agency's law list and represent the creditor when the agency, not the creditor, retains and communicates with the lawyer?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may represent a creditor retained through a collection agency acting as the creditor's authorized agent, but must verify that authority, keep independent judgment, may n…
Can a lawyer prepare wills for a nonprofit's members when the nonprofit gathers the information and relays all communications between lawyer and member?
The opinion concluded the lawyer aids the unauthorized practice of law under Rule 5.5(b) by working through a nonprofit that collects member information and relays all communications, and the arrangem…
Can a lawyer hired by a company that markets living trusts to consumers prepare or review those trusts and split the fee with the company?
The opinion concluded it is professionally improper. Preparing or reviewing trusts an institution sells to consumers creates a conflict between the lawyer's institution-client and the consumers, assis…
Can a lawyer work with a financial planner who fills out revocable trusts, or pay the planner to send clients to the lawyer?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may not assist a financial planner who is engaged in the unauthorized practice of law (Rule 5.5(b)), and may not give the planner anything of value to initiate contact w…
Can a bank prepare a land trust agreement and a deed into trust for a customer without using a lawyer?
The opinion concluded that a bank that prepares an Illinois land trust agreement and a deed into trust for a customer through a nonlawyer trust officer engages in the unauthorized practice of law, bec…
When an insurance company's salaried staff lawyer defends an insured, who is the client, and can a non-lawyer claims supervisor direct the lawyer's work?
The opinion concluded the insured, not the insurer, is the staff lawyer's client; the lawyer must keep his independent professional judgment free of direction by the company or its non-lawyer claims p…
Can a lawyer hired by a business broker draft the closing documents for both the buyer and seller of a business?
The opinion concluded the arrangement is improper: hired by the broker yet serving both buyer and seller, the lawyer has an unwaivable conflict of undivided loyalty, and preparing documents around a b…
Can a law firm let a collection agency's staff, or place its own paralegal at the agency's office, to field collection calls in the firm's name?
The opinion concluded both arrangements are improper: a client's own employee fielding calls in the firm's name aids the unauthorized practice of law, and the firm's own paralegal taking calls at the …
Can a collection lawyer have the client or its billing vendor type a demand letter on the lawyer's letterhead, where the lawyer writes, reviews, and personally signs it?
The opinion concluded there is no per se impropriety; because the lawyer writes the letter, checks it for accuracy, and personally signs it, having the client or a vendor type it on the letterhead is …
Can a law firm give a client blank firm letterhead signed by an attorney for the client to use in its own debt collection?
The opinion concluded no; furnishing a client blank or unaddressed letters signed by a firm lawyer for unsupervised use in debt collection assists the unauthorized practice of law, because lay persons…
Can a legal-services lawyer take part in a program where an outside nonprofit advances students' court costs and its staff helps them file small claims suits?
The opinion concluded no; the lawyer could not participate, because the outside organization's staff helping students file and pursue claims would be the unauthorized practice of law that the lawyer i…
Can a lawyer licensed in Illinois but living out of state open an Illinois office run by a paralegal?
The opinion concluded a non-resident Illinois-licensed lawyer may open an Illinois office staffed by a paralegal, where the lawyer spends time there, supervises the nonlawyer's delegated work, assumes…
Can a law firm provide arbitrator-evaluation and grievance-research legal work to two lay associations that, in turn, sell that work to their own member jurisdictions?
The opinion concluded the arrangement was professionally improper, because placing lay associations as intermediaries between the lawyers and the jurisdictions for whom particularized legal services a…
Can an Illinois lawyer accept and act on debt-collection claims forwarded by an out-of-state corporation that solicited those claims from creditors and charged a flat fee to connect them with a lawyer?
The opinion concluded it was professionally improper for a lawyer to accept and act on claims forwarded by a corporation that solicited them, because the corporation was engaged in the unauthorized pr…
Can a law firm hire a salaried nonlawyer to provide collective-bargaining services to the firm's clients, as long as that person gives no legal advice?
The opinion concluded it was not per se improper to employ a salaried layperson to render collective-bargaining services where the firm supervises the work and retains responsibility, but it would be …
Browse Illinois State Bar Association opinions by topic
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.