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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May a county attorney or county prosecutor (or their partners) represent private clients before county boards or in criminal matters in that county?
The opinion concluded that neither the county attorney nor the county prosecutor, nor their assistants, partners, and associates, may represent private clients before county boards or in criminal matt…
May a municipal prosecutor, in one consolidated trial, prosecute a civilian and at the same time defend a police officer charged by that civilian?
The opinion concluded it would be improper for a municipal prosecutor to serve in that dual capacity in the same consolidated trial; while a court rule expressly let a municipal attorney defend a poli…
Does an attorney's service on an unofficial municipal charter-revision advisory committee disqualify him from representing private clients before that city's court and agencies?
The opinion concluded that service on the proposed advisory committee (which had no official status or statutory authority) is in the public interest, does not entail a conflict of interest, and will …
Does serving as attorney for an intermunicipal sewerage authority bar the lawyer (and his firm) from appearing for private clients before the courts and agencies of the two member municipalities?
The opinion concluded that representing the intermunicipal sewerage authority ethically bars the attorney and his partners from appearing before any magistrate or agency of either municipality; the ag…
May a real estate lawyer accept appointment to chair a municipal committee advising on a property reassessment while he represents local landowners before the town's boards?
The opinion concluded the attorney should not accept the appointment, because he represented several clients whose land values would be affected by the reassessment, and Canon 6 prohibits representing…
May a municipal attorney let the municipality bill a buyer of municipal property a flat 'legal fee' for legal work the attorney performed only for the municipality?
The opinion concluded that where the flat $125 charge did not represent a fee the attorney fixed for services actually rendered, billing it to the purchaser as a 'legal fee' was improper, and the atto…
May the attorney for a zoning board of adjustment also represent the municipal governing body in court appeals, including cases where the governing body reversed the zoning board?
The opinion concluded the zoning board attorney could not appear for the governing body where it reversed the board, because that would put him against his original client in violation of Canon 6; the…
May a municipal attorney continue to represent a developer or builder operating in a neighboring municipality when that client is also building in the town the attorney serves?
The opinion concluded the continued representation was improper under Canon 6, because the room for public misunderstanding when a municipal attorney represents a developer operating in his own munici…
If a lawyer becomes a member of a municipal zoning board of adjustment, may he represent private clients before the town's other boards, the governing body, and the municipal court?
The opinion concluded it would be improper for an attorney-member of the zoning board to represent clients before the zoning board, planning board, governing body, municipal court, or other municipal …
May a part-time municipal magistrate who still practices law represent a builder or developer buying land in his municipality when the land will need variances or subdivision approvals?
The opinion concluded such representation would for all practical purposes violate Canon 6, because the land purchases at issue plainly contemplated later proceedings before municipal agencies, taking…
May a municipal attorney defend a criminal defendant charged with an offense committed in the same municipality the attorney represents?
The opinion concluded such representation would be unethical, because defending a person charged with a criminal offense within the municipality is a task conflicting with the municipal attorney's dut…
May the attorney for a sewer or utility authority also represent developers, and may members of one firm represent a sewerage authority in a different municipality from where they represent developers?
The opinion concluded it is unethical for the attorney of a municipal agency such as a sewer or utility authority to represent developers in the same municipality, but found no conflict in members of …
May the attorney for a municipal housing authority represent private clients before the same municipality's court, zoning board, planning board, and other agencies?
The opinion concluded the housing authority attorney could not appear before the municipal court, board of adjustment, planning board, township committee, or other municipal bodies of the municipality…
May members of a law firm appear before a city's court and agencies when one partner works full time for that city in a non-legal civil service job enforcing the building code?
The opinion concluded the firm could not appear before the city's court or any of its bodies, because what the municipal-employee partner could not do his partners could not do either, and the result …
May a lawyer who is an appointed member of a Chapter 6 board of education represent private clients before the municipality's court and other boards?
The opinion concluded it would be improper, because a board of education functioning under Title 18, Chapter 6, is subject to municipal control through the board of estimate, so the appointed attorney…
If two former partners keep separate offices but share a conference room and still refer each other work, is one barred from practicing before the municipality where the other is the municipal attorney?
The opinion concluded the two lawyers were 'office associates' under Rule 1:26-5(c) because they shared a conference room and referred each other work, so the rule barred the inquirer from practicing …
Can a municipal attorney do the legal work on a developer's project if the developer deposits the fees with the municipality instead of paying the attorney directly?
The opinion concluded it would be unethical. A municipal attorney cannot perform a developer's project legal work, even when the fee is routed indirectly through a deposit with the municipality, becau…
Can a municipal attorney also serve as attorney for the planning board, zoning board, or other boards in the same municipality?
The opinion concluded that a municipal attorney cannot serve as attorney for any board or agency of the same municipality if there is or may be a conflict of interest in a particular situation, but it…
Can a former municipal attorney who is still handling the town's tax-foreclosure cases take on a private client's tax-assessment appeal against that same town?
The opinion concluded he cannot. While he is still representing the municipality on its tax-sale foreclosures, he cannot at the same time represent a private taxpayer in an appeal whose interests are …
Can a lawyer who serves on a municipal parking authority represent private clients in that municipality's municipal court or before its other agencies?
The opinion concluded he cannot. An attorney who is a member of a municipal parking authority cannot represent private clients before the municipal court or any other public agency of that municipalit…
Can a municipal attorney who heads the town's law department represent a pedestrian injured in an accident within the municipality?
The opinion concluded he is not precluded on these facts, where the police took no action and no member of the law department was involved, but the Committee reiterated that an attorney in such situat…
Can a lawyer serve as a board of education's attorney when his law partner is the attorney for the township?
The opinion concluded that he may, because the township and the board of education are distinct and separate entities with neither able to interfere with the other, so no conflict exists, but both par…
Can two law partners each represent a different municipality when the municipalities take opposing positions in the same county-tax litigation?
The Committee concluded a conflict of interest existed. Because the litigation could reduce one municipality's county tax while increasing the other's, the two partners could not represent the opposin…
Can a municipal prosecutor represent his own client on appeal to the county court, challenging a conviction from the same municipal court he serves?
The Committee concluded it would be improper. A municipal prosecutor is in effect the municipality's attorney, so appearing on a county-court appeal that challenges the municipal court's determination…
Can the counsel to a municipal parking authority also represent private clients before that municipality's court or its other public agencies?
The Committee concluded he cannot. Although a parking authority is largely autonomous, it is by statute an agency and instrumentality of the municipality, so its counsel may not represent private clie…
If one member of a law firm serves as a municipal councilman, can another member be attorney for the same town's elected board of education?
The Committee concluded there was no conflict. Because the elected board of education was autonomous and chose its own employees without the council's approval, the council and the board operated as d…
After leaving office as county counsel, can a lawyer represent a private client in an action against the county board of freeholders?
The Committee concluded he may not if the new matter relates in any way to matters he handled as county counsel. A public-agency former client cannot consent to the conflict, and the lawyer must resol…
Can the attorney for an elected board of education represent private clients before the town's other boards or in matters against the town itself?
The Committee concluded there was no conflict. An elected board of education is autonomous and distinct from the municipality, so its attorney may appear for private clients before municipal boards an…
Can a lawyer who serves as a trustee on a municipal library board also act as the paid attorney for that same board?
The Committee concluded he should not. A library trustee who is an attorney becomes an adviser to himself when he represents his own board, an inherent conflict like the dual representation Canon 6 fo…
Can a lawyer who sits as an unpaid member of a municipal board of health represent private clients before the town's other agencies and its municipal court?
The Committee concluded he could not. An attorney who holds office as a board-of-health member may not appear for private clients before the other municipal agencies or the municipal court of the same…
Do government regulations that cap attorneys' fees, like the Veterans Administration's limits on VA-guaranteed mortgage closings, conflict with the rule that lawyers may not let others fix their fees?
The Committee concluded there was no conflict. Its prior opinions barring lawyers from letting others fix their fees did not apply where fees are set or limited by federal or state law or regulations …
Can a town's 'Corporation Legislative Counsel,' who advises the council on ordinances, handle tax appeals, negligence suits, and other cases against the same municipality?
The Committee concluded he may not. As an employee whose client is in effect the entire municipality, the Corporation Legislative Counsel cannot handle cases of any nature against the municipality he …
Can the counsel to a city housing authority appear for private clients before that city's board of adjustment, planning board, or other agencies?
The Committee concluded they cannot. Counsel to a city housing authority has the entire municipality as his client, so he may not appear for private clients before the city's board of adjustment, plan…
Can a lawyer who sits on a municipal zoning board of adjustment, or a member of that lawyer's firm, represent private clients before the same town's boards and governing body?
No. The Committee concluded that neither the zoning-board member nor any member of the lawyer's firm may appear for private clients before the municipality's planning board, zoning board, or governing…
Can a municipal prosecutor who was excused from a disorderly-persons case involving a client and the client's wife later prepare a separation agreement for that client?
Yes. The Committee concluded the later representation was not a violation, because the prosecutor had no personal connection with the investigation or prosecution of the disorderly-persons case and ha…
Can a lawyer who works for a state agency be assigned to represent an indigent criminal defendant, or must he be excused because he is a state employee?
He may serve. The Committee concluded there is no impropriety or conflict merely because the assigned attorney is a state employee, except where the charged crime involves the State itself, in which c…
Can an attorney who also serves as a municipal clerk represent defendants in that municipality's municipal court?
No. The Committee concluded it is improper, applying the same principle that bars a member of a municipal governing body from practicing before its municipal court, because the clerk is identified in …
In New Jersey, can a lawyer who is a State Police officer also serve as a municipal prosecutor?
No. The Committee concluded that serving simultaneously as a New Jersey State Police officer and as a municipal prosecutor created an appearance of impropriety under the then-existing RPC 1.7(c)(2) an…
If a lawyer accepts an unpaid county appointment (planning board, park commission, county college), how is it decided which client matters the firm must then decline?
The opinion concluded the Committee would not create a formula and that whether the appointment is paid is irrelevant; under the Supreme Court's Perillo standard, the lawyer must decide, case by case …
Can a municipal court judge share a law practice with a municipal prosecutor from another town, and may the judge's firm handle a criminal appeal arising from his own court's county?
The supplement concluded a municipal court judge may associate with a municipal prosecutor of another municipality only if the other lawyers refrain from all criminal-defense work within the county wh…
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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.