New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Can an assistant county counsel also defend a municipality in the same county in a civil-rights suit that does not involve the county?
Yes. The opinion concluded there was no inherent or potential conflict in an assistant county counsel defending a municipality, its mayor, and council in a civil-rights action that did not include the…
Can a lawyer who is a county college trustee appear before the boards and agencies of the same county for private clients?
Yes. The opinion concluded that because a county college is an autonomous, separate political subdivision not under county fiscal control, an attorney who is a trustee may appear before county agencie…
After defending school officials in suits a teachers' association brought, can the same lawyer then sue that association for malicious prosecution and defamation on the officials' behalf?
Yes. The opinion concluded that the lawyer's prior defense of the board members and superintendent did not conflict with bringing affirmative claims against the association, so DR 5-105(A) did not bar…
Can the associate of an assistant county counsel handle a criminal defendant's appeal from a conviction that arose in the same county?
No. The opinion concluded that an assistant county counsel may not defend against prosecution of offenses in his county, that disqualification extends to his associates and to every judicial level, so…
Can a lawyer be attorney for both an elected township board of education and the township itself at the same time?
The opinion concluded the lawyer could serve in both capacities because an elected board of education is independent of the town government, but with the caveat that he must drop both if a conflict or…
Can a lawyer work for two different law firms at once, and also hold a part-time job with a state government agency?
Yes, with conditions. The opinion concluded a lawyer may work for two firms, each paying for services rendered, if their matters are not adverse and no client information is exposed, and may also hold…
Can a municipality include its township attorney's fees in the condemnation costs it requires a developer to reimburse, without creating a conflict of interest?
Yes, on these facts. The opinion concluded that where the township attorney represents only the municipality and his services are not subject to the developer's approval, including his fees in the rei…
Can two lawyers who are both part-time assistant municipal attorneys for the same town represent opposing spouses in a divorce?
Yes. The opinion concluded that two attorneys both serving part-time for the same municipality may represent opposing parties in a divorce, because their shared public employment does not create a suf…
Can a New Jersey lawyer be a municipal prosecutor while a law partner serves as planning board attorney in the same town?
No. A municipal prosecutor is a municipal attorney, and because a conflict bars dual representation of two public bodies in one municipality, what one partner may not do the other partner and the firm…
Can a New Jersey planning board attorney resign, represent a private client before that board, and then return to the board attorney post?
A planning board attorney may not represent a group with business before the board while in office; the Committee declined to rule on whether the later reappointment was legal but strongly disapproved…
Can a part-time county legal assistant in New Jersey also serve as counsel to a municipal planning board in the same county?
No. Because the county planning board may disapprove a municipal board's plat as a matter of law, a conflict could arise between the two roles, so the same lawyer cannot hold both positions.
Can a New Jersey city attorney sue a former member of the governing body, on the city's behalf, to recover money received under color of office?
Yes. A municipal attorney represents the entire municipality, so there is no impropriety in suing a former official to recover money allegedly due the city, even though the attorney was appointed whil…
Must a New Jersey lawyer (including a municipal attorney) disclose a client's zoning or building-code violations discovered during a real estate sale?
No. Both the seller's and buyer's attorneys are barred from disclosing the violations learned in the representation, because no exception to the confidentiality rule applies; but the seller's attorney…
Can a New Jersey lawyer who serves on a municipal charter study commission also represent private clients before that municipality's boards?
Yes. A municipal charter study commission is an elected, autonomous body that is not part of the municipal 'official family,' so a commissioner-lawyer may appear for property owners opposing a varianc…
Can two New Jersey lawyers form a partnership while one serves as mayor and the other as borough attorney in the same municipality?
No. A statute bars a sitting governing-body member from such an appointment, and because the mayor would share partnership income that includes the municipal attorney's fees, the arrangement creates a…
If a New Jersey lawyer is married to an assistant prosecutor, can the lawyers in that spouse's firm still handle criminal defense in the same county?
Yes, with safeguards. The disqualification of the prosecutor's attorney-spouse is not imputed to the firm, so the other lawyers may practice criminal law in the county if the spouse does no criminal w…
Can the law partner of a New Jersey municipal attorney serve as a citizen member of the same municipality's planning board?
No. The governing body the municipal attorney advises reviews the planning board's work, so the interplay is too active; even as a lay board member the partner creates an appearance of conflict, and t…
How long must a former New Jersey board of adjustment attorney wait before representing private clients before that board on new matters?
There is no fixed period. A former public attorney should normally let some reasonable time pass before appearing before his former governmental employer, but the Committee cannot prescribe a set numb…
If a New Jersey lawyer defends municipalities and police through a liability insurer, can the lawyer also represent private clients before that town's boards and municipal court?
Yes, in unrelated matters. Because the lawyer is chosen by the insurer and is not the appointed municipal attorney, the public is unlikely to associate him with the municipal government, so unrelated …
Can a New Jersey municipal prosecutor (or another lawyer in the city law department) prosecute city employees, including police, at departmental disciplinary hearings and appeals?
No. Because the public sees the municipal prosecutor and city employees as on the same team, the appearance of conflict bars the prosecutor, and every other member of the municipal law department, fro…
Can a New Jersey firm keep suing a county for compensation claimants when a county freeholder, a former associate, rents space and shares its entrance and waiting room?
No. By sharing a common entrance and waiting room (and continuing to do work for the firm), the freeholder becomes an 'office associate,' so the firm's continued suits against the county create a conf…
Can a New Jersey lawyer appear in a municipal court where his or her spouse is the court clerk or deputy court clerk?
No. Because a municipal court clerk performs important non-ministerial functions and influences the court, the opinion held that the appearance of impropriety bars an attorney from appearing in a muni…
Can a New Jersey municipal counsel and a county (or county board) counsel of the same county share an office or form a partnership?
No. The opinion held that an association, partnership, or office-sharing arrangement between counsel for a municipality and counsel for the county (or a county board) in which that municipality sits i…
Can a municipal attorney who once advised the mayor about his legal fees defend the township when the former mayor later sues it?
No for the municipal attorney, who had advised the mayor and so has a conflict; but the township's special counsel, who was formerly the township's public defender and never had an attorney-client rel…
Can a municipal prosecutor represent the police department at a departmental disciplinary hearing of charges against a municipal police officer?
No. The opinion held it is a conflict of interest, and unethical, for a municipal prosecutor to prosecute departmental charges against a municipal police officer, because the prosecutor works with the…
If a law firm hires the former assistant municipal attorney who litigated a case for the town, can the firm keep representing the developer on the other side?
No. The opinion held the former assistant township attorney is disqualified under DR 9-101(B), that disqualification is imputed to his new firm, the conflict cannot be cured by firing him or by the to…
A municipal public defender shares an entrance, waiting room, and library with the town's municipal attorney; can he still privately defend clients in that municipal court?
Not the private client. The opinion held the public defender and municipal attorney are 'office associates' under R. 1:15 because of their shared entrance, waiting room, and library, so the municipal …
Can a part-time municipal solicitor represent a developer operating in the municipality, or buyers and sellers of property there?
The opinion held the solicitor may not represent a developer operating in his municipality, even on unrelated property; he may handle an ordinary sale of a developed single-family house or of commerci…
Does serving on a county's nonpaying advisory board bar a lawyer from criminal defense, appearing before county boards, or suing the county?
No. The opinion held that serving on a nonpaying, advisory county board with no binding authority does not prohibit the attorney from defending criminal matters, appearing before county boards or cour…
Can a lawyer join a municipal planning board when a partner in the lawyer's firm is the board's attorney, if the lawyer recuses on the attorney's appointment and pay?
No. The opinion held it improper for an associate to accept appointment to a planning board for which his firm's partner is the board attorney; disqualifying himself from the attorney's appointment an…
If a firm's partners are the municipal attorney and the municipal prosecutor, does the wife of a third partner joining the zoning board create a conflict of interest for the firm?
No. The opinion found no conflict where the firm already recognized it could not appear before any municipal body, including the zoning board; and it declined to weigh whatever inference the public mi…
Can a former township attorney who drafted a zoning ordinance amendment and defended it in court later represent the property owner who opposed it, in a variance application against that same amendment?
No. The opinion concluded the former township attorney had substantial responsibility, as a public employee, in a matter so closely related to the variance application that representing the applicant …
Can a city law department attorney represent both the city and its city-subsidized municipal medical center in the same premium dispute with an insurer?
Yes. Because the city subsidized the medical center and made up its operating deficits, the opinion found their interests in fact identical and allowed the dual representation under the consent provis…
Does serving as legal advisor to a local police benevolent association prevent a lawyer from also being appointed attorney for the municipal board of education?
No. The opinion saw no inherent conflict in a local PBA's legal advisor also serving as municipal board of education attorney, while noting he would have to disqualify himself in particular situations…
Can a Deputy Attorney General who had substantial involvement in a suit against the State join the law firm representing the plaintiffs while that suit is pending, if he is screened and the Attorney General consents?
No, not while the litigation is pending. The opinion concluded the Supreme Court's Notice to the Bar bars representing conflicting interests in a matter involving the public interest even with consent…
Can a former deputy attorney general who helped draft an agency's rules later represent a private client appealing or challenging those same rules?
No. The opinion concluded that because the lawyer, as a deputy attorney general, had substantial responsibility in drafting the agency's rules, DR 9-101(B) bars him from later representing a private a…
If a lawyer is appointed and paid by a municipality to defend its individual police officers in criminal matters, may he or his firm still appear before that municipality's other agencies for private clients?
Yes. The opinion concluded that because the appointed lawyer represents the individual police officers and not the municipality, like a municipal public defender, he and his firm may appear before mun…
May a municipal magistrate and the solicitor of the same town's type II board of education share office space, and may the magistrate's partner represent that board of education?
Yes. The opinion found nothing unethical per se in the office-sharing, and held that because a type II board of education is autonomous and not an agency of the municipality under the magistrate-confl…
Can an attorney who serves on a municipal environmental commission represent private clients before that municipality's planning board, board of adjustment, board of health, and municipal court?
Not both. The opinion concluded that an attorney must choose: serving the municipal environmental commission precludes him and his firm from appearing before the town's other bodies for private client…
Can a township's municipal solicitor serve as defense counsel for people charged with motor vehicle offenses that occurred in his township, if the cases were transferred to a neighboring town's municipal court?
No. The opinion concluded there is a conflict of interest: it is unethical for a municipal solicitor, as the municipality's chief legal officer, to defend those accused of offenses that occurred withi…
Can an attorney who serves as a township committeeman represent a client suing the township's board of education when his wife is an elected member of that board?
No. The opinion concluded the proposed representation would be improper; neither the board of education's autonomy from the municipality nor the separate identity of the attorney's spouse cured the co…
Is there a conflict of interest if an assistant county prosecutor appears before a juvenile and domestic relations court where his mother is the chief clerk?
No. The opinion concluded that because the prosecutor handled only adult matters (child-support cases against absconding fathers) and not juvenile proceedings, his appearances before the court where h…
Can an attorney serve as municipal prosecutor in a town where his law partner is the attorney for the zoning board of adjustment?
No. The opinion concluded it is improper for a municipal prosecutor to be the law partner of the zoning board of adjustment's attorney, because a municipal prosecutor is a municipal attorney, a statut…
Can a law firm represent defendants who were investigated or indicted while one of the firm's associates was working on the county prosecutor's staff?
No. The opinion concluded a firm may not represent defendants who were investigated or under indictment during the time an associate of the firm served on the county prosecutor's staff, even if that a…
Can a lawyer accept appointment as assistant county counsel when his law partner is an elected member of the county board of freeholders that makes the appointment?
No. The opinion concluded it would be improper for the lawyer to accept appointment as assistant county counsel from the freeholder board on which his law partner serves as an elected member.
Can a lawyer who serves as a deputy surrogate act as a paid probate-law consultant to other attorneys, even if he does not appear in court or associate with them?
No. The opinion concluded that a court rule barring a deputy surrogate from practicing in any estate or trust matter prohibits him from acting as a probate consultant to other lawyers, because doing s…
Can a planning board's attorney advise the board on a matter in which he has a personal or financial interest if the board and the applicant both consent?
No. The opinion concluded that the consent that can cure a personal-interest conflict between private parties is unavailable where the required consent is that of a public body, so the attorney should…
Can a municipal attorney defend a town police officer at a probable-cause hearing in the same municipal court the attorney serves?
No. The opinion concluded the municipal attorney should not represent the police officer at the probable-cause hearing in his own municipal court; the officer has a statutory right to independent coun…
Can a lawyer continue a private client's appeal from a municipal court conviction while he is also retained by that same township to defend it in civil litigation?
No. The opinion concluded it would be improper for the attorney to appear for the private client on the appeal while he simultaneously represents the township in litigation against it; moving the case…
Can a board of education attorney serve as the board's labor negotiator with the teachers' union when his own wife is a full-time, non-tenure teacher employed by that board?
No. The opinion concluded it would be improper for the attorney to serve as the board's labor negotiator, because his wife's personal and financial interest in the negotiations could impair his judgme…
Does the rule barring a municipal judge from political activity also bar his law partners and associates, and is the judge's dual role as school board attorney an ethics question for the committee?
The opinion concluded the dual-office question was for the judiciary, not the ethics committee, and held that the rule barring a municipal judge from political activity does not automatically extend t…
Can a law firm keep handling a case against the State after hiring the former deputy attorney general who had substantial responsibility for that same matter, if he works in a separate office?
No. The opinion concluded the firm could not continue to oppose the State, because the former deputy attorney general had substantial responsibility for the matter, his disqualification is imputed to …
Can a township's municipal attorney review and approve deeds and easements that a developer must deliver to the township as a condition of planning board subdivision approval?
Yes. The opinion concluded that a municipal attorney's review, revision, or preparation of a deed of easement to the municipality required by the planning board incident to subdivision approval is not…
Does leaving the Attorney General's office or another state agency bar a lawyer or law clerk from later working for a firm that is in litigation against the State?
No, not per se. The opinion concluded that the bar applies only where the person had substantial responsibility for the adversarial litigation while in public employment; if so, either the lawyer cann…
Is there a conflict of interest when a municipal attorney's spouse serves on the elected board of education of the same municipality?
No, not per se. The opinion concluded the marital relationship creates no inherent conflict, but the attorneys may have to withdraw when a matter arises involving both public bodies if the relationshi…
When a board member gives a board's attorney background information 'in confidence,' can the board later compel the attorney to hand that material over?
Yes. The opinion concluded that the privilege belongs to the board, the actual client, not the individual member; because the member consulted the attorney in his role as board counsel rather than as …
Must a borough attorney report to the ethics committee that the mayor, a licensed but non-practicing lawyer, took unauthorized fees for performing marriages?
Yes. The opinion concluded that because the borough attorney learned of the conduct from a source other than the mayor, the information was not privileged, so DR 1-103 required reporting it to the app…
Can an attorney who sits on a municipal zoning board of adjustment represent a private client in a lawsuit against that same municipality?
No. The opinion concluded the representation was improper because the attorney was part of the municipality's official family, and suing it created a public appearance that adverse interests had commu…
Is an assistant county counsel in a conflict of interest if his wife is elected or appointed to the county board of freeholders that he serves?
No, not per se. The opinion concluded that because both the wife as a freeholder and the husband as assistant county counsel would act on behalf of the whole county, there was no conflict of interest …
May the law partner or associate of a municipal court judge serve as a lay member of a municipal planning board or board of health in the same town?
Yes. The opinion concluded that serving in an individual lay capacity (not a representative one) on any municipal board other than the governing body is not a conflict, even though the lawyer's associ…
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Legal ethics opinions from the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics 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.