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 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 law firm that regularly prosecutes disorderly-persons cases for a private party in a municipal court also defend other defendants in that same court?
No. A firm that frequently and regularly prosecutes disorderly-persons offenses for and on behalf of the state or municipality under the court rules may not represent criminal defendants in that same …
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…
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 firm take a workers' compensation case against a law firm where one of the firm's current partners used to be an associate?
The opinion held that, assuming no dispute and no reasonable possibility of a dispute over whether the accident was compensable (so the former associate would not be a witness), employment of the new …
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…
In New Jersey, does sharing only a law library make otherwise-separate lawyers 'office associates' who are treated as connected for ethics purposes?
No. The opinion held that lawyers who share only a law library, while keeping separate and distinct office facilities and no joint building ownership, are not 'office associates,' so long as the libra…
Can a New Jersey lawyer accept a referral fee or commission from a real estate agency for sending it clients' listings?
Only with full disclosure and the client's express consent, and the client is entitled to the benefit of the commission by credit or refund. The opinion held the lawyer's fiduciary obligation applies …
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…
After opposing the insured in a coverage declaratory-judgment action, can the insurance carrier's lawyer go back to defending that insured in the underlying negligence case?
Yes, on these facts. Because the declaratory-judgment coverage issue did not require resolving any facts relevant to the negligence suit, the opinion held the carrier's attorney may defend the neglige…
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 firm that represents a public-employee union also provide discounted legal services to the union's individual members under a referral program?
Yes, if the plan is registered with the Supreme Court and the organization does not infringe the lawyer's independent judgment (the member is the client). But the opinion repeated, as a general practi…
Can a lawyer who regularly represents a town's police officers, including the complaining-witness officer, defend a DUI defendant in that town's municipal court?
No. The opinion held it improper, because the lawyer had represented five of the municipality's police officers, including the complaining-witness officer (most recently weeks earlier, with the bill s…
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 law firm sue a municipality when one of its partners is the town's part-time municipal court judge?
No. Although no actual conflict existed and the rules did not forbid it, the opinion held the firm should not continue representing clients suing the municipality, because lay persons see the municipa…
Can a lawyer who once represented a client buying a property later foreclose the mortgage on it for a lender against that former client?
No. The opinion held it clearly improper for the attorney to foreclose for a lending institution against his former client, because suing a former client tends to impair the confidence essential to th…
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 …
Are New Jersey lawyers 'office associates' just because they have separate offices in the same building one of them owns, and does a past office-sharing relationship keep them associated after they fully separate?
No on both. The opinion held that lawyers in separate suites in the same building, with no shared facilities, are not office associates under the court rule, and that a prior office-associate relation…
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…
Can a law firm represent an ex-wife on a post-divorce motion when one of its partners once worked at the opposing firm, and the ex-wife once worked there as a legal secretary?
Yes. The opinion found no conflict for either firm, because the post-divorce motion was a new matter unrelated to the prior representations of the husband or wife and involved only facts arising after…
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…
Is there a conflict when a municipal prosecutor tries cases before a municipal court judge whose law partner is the prosecutor's brother?
No, not for the prosecutor. The opinion concluded this is not a conflict situation for the municipal prosecutor; whether the judge may sit is a question of judicial qualification governed by the statu…
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 one attorney represent both a husband-driver and his wife-passenger suing a third party for a crash, and also handle the estate of their child who died in the same accident?
The opinion concluded the wife need not have separate counsel, because the multiple-employment exception applies where adult clients give informed consent and the wife will not claim against her husba…
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 a law firm sue a person in an unrelated matter when a partner of the firm had earlier consulted with that person about a different, declined case?
Yes. The opinion concluded there was no conflict where the prior consultation involved a wholly unrelated malpractice matter the firm declined to take, and no confidential information from that consul…
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 an attorney appear before a municipal planning board when one of the board's voting members is a current or former client?
Yes. The opinion concluded the attorney may ethically appear before the planning board even though a voting member is a present or past client; the responsibility falls on that board member not to sit…
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 known as a PBA attorney represent an individual PBA member in a matter where another PBA member is expected to testify?
Only outside criminal-type matters. The supplement narrowed Opinion 320 so the bar reaches only criminal, quasi-criminal, and disciplinary matters in which another PBA member may testify, not civil ma…
Can an attorney appear before local boards and the municipal court when his father, as mayor, appoints those bodies and sits on the planning board?
Yes. The opinion concluded the attorney and his associates may appear before local boards whose members are appointed by his parent, because that relationship alone does not call for an inference of i…
Can a lawyer who handled an estate's administration then sue that estate, with the administrator he represented as the nominal defendant, to reach the decedent's insurance?
The opinion declined to approve it. Although the conflict might be more apparent than real where insurance covers the claim, the Committee was unwilling to hold the lawyer could accept the representat…
Can one attorney represent both an injured plaintiff and the plaintiff's own insurance carrier, which is subrogated for medical payments, in the same tort action?
Yes, with informed consent. The opinion concluded a lawyer may represent both the insured plaintiff and his subrogated carrier where the conditions of DR 5-105(C) are met, because their interests on t…
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 lawyer sue a former client in an unrelated case, and can a lawyer who currently represents a married couple later handle a divorce for one spouse?
Mixed. The opinion concluded the lawyer could sue a former client in an unrelated accident case where the prior representation had ended, but he could not, even with consent, turn from representing a …
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 who once drew reciprocal wills for a husband and wife later represent the husband in a divorce against the wife?
Yes, on these facts. The opinion concluded the lawyer could represent the husband in the divorce because all of his information for the wills came from the husband and the wife gave him none, so there…
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…
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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.