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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Is it a conflict for a lawyer to represent a municipal planning board when his law partner is the father of the town's mayor?
No. The opinion concluded the representation is proper, reasoning that only actual kinship between the lawyer and the official is proscribed; a relationship as remote as being the partner of the mayor…
Can a municipal judge also act as the attorney for a developer whose land project needs approvals from that same municipality's boards?
No. The opinion concluded that a municipal judge may not represent a developer of land in the municipality he serves when the project depends on actions of the municipal planning and zoning boards, be…
When the same insurer covers both the plaintiff and the defendant, can the defense lawyer use the plaintiff's statement to the insurer against the plaintiff at trial?
No. The opinion concluded that where both parties are insured by the same company, a lawyer retained by the insurer to defend may not use the plaintiff's statement to the company against the plaintiff…
Can a lawyer hired by an insurer to defend an insured develop facts that would defeat coverage, after telling the insured to get his own lawyer?
No. The opinion concluded that defense counsel retained by a carrier owes the insured undivided fidelity and may not take a position adverse to coverage in the case itself; he must disclose the situat…
Can one attorney represent both the board of adjustment and the planning board of the same municipality?
No. The opinion concluded that an attorney should not represent both boards of the same municipality, because the potential for conflict between them is so inherent in their different statutory duties…
Must a divorce lawyer disclose to the court that his client committed adultery, an affirmative defense, or keep it confidential?
Keep it confidential. The opinion concluded that the duty to preserve a client's confidences requires the lawyer not to disclose facts amounting to an affirmative defense (adultery) in a divorce actio…
Can an assistant county prosecutor represent private plaintiffs in a civil rights suit against a police department in the same county?
No. The opinion concluded it is improper for an assistant county prosecutor to represent private plaintiffs suing a municipality, its police department, and officers in the same county, because of the…
Can a lawyer who shares an office with the municipal attorney represent a developer building and selling homes in that municipality?
No. The opinion concluded that an office associate of the municipal attorney may not represent a developer operating in the municipality that employs the municipal attorney, because the conflict that …
Can a New Jersey lawyer go ahead with a closing when the other party is represented by an out-of-state lawyer or a non-lawyer who is engaged in unauthorized practice?
Yes. The opinion concluded it is not unethical for a New Jersey attorney to continue representing his client even where the other party is represented by someone not authorized to practice law in New …
Can a law firm represent a client against people it previously represented only in an unrelated routine matter such as a change of name?
Yes, on these facts. The opinion concluded there was no conflict because the firm's prior representation of the now-adverse parties was a routine change-of-name proceeding wholly unrelated to the pres…
Can a part-time assistant municipal attorney represent a builder client operating in the municipality if he discloses the relationship and steps aside from the variance hearing?
No. The opinion concluded it is unethical for an assistant municipal attorney (also zoning board counsel) to represent a builder operating in his municipality, even with disclosure to the board, withd…
Can one attorney represent both the driver and the passengers in a suit against another driver, and does it matter if a passenger is the driver's child?
It depends on the passenger. The opinion concluded the attorney may not represent the driver together with passengers who are legally free to sue him (here, an adult sister and a child's friend), even…
Can a legal services organization represent a wife in a divorce when its predecessor office had earlier represented the husband in unrelated matters?
No. The opinion concluded that a legal services corporation and its predecessor are treated like a single law partnership, so the predecessor's prior attorney-client relationship with the husband bars…
Can a lawyer bring a negligence suit against a person he once defended in an unrelated, now-dismissed municipal court case?
Yes. The opinion concluded the attorney may bring the negligence action against a former client where the prior matter (a dismissed assault charge) was entirely unrelated in parties and subject matter…
After withdrawing from an estate's administrator who defies a distribution order, can the lawyer represent the other heirs against that former-client administrator?
No. The opinion concluded that when the administrator-client refuses to obey the court's distribution order and the lawyer's instructions, the lawyer has grounds to withdraw, but after withdrawing he …
Can a New Jersey firm or lawyer form a partnership with a lawyer admitted only in another state, and how must the letterhead show it?
Yes, with limits. The opinion concluded an interstate partnership is not unethical, but the firm name may not include the name of a lawyer not admitted in New Jersey (even with an explanatory note), a…
Can a lawyer join a local volunteer ambulance corps or similar civic group?
Yes. The opinion concluded it is proper for an attorney to join a local volunteer ambulance corps, so long as the participation is not used to advertise for or solicit clients, directly or indirectly.
Can a former workers' compensation judge represent the insurance carrier against a claimant whose earlier claim he decided as a judge?
No. The opinion concluded that a lawyer who, as a workers' compensation judge, decided an earlier claim for the same claimant may not later represent the carrier against that claimant, because Canon 3…
Can a lawyer be the planning board attorney when a partner in his firm is the attorney for the same municipality?
No. The opinion concluded it is unethical for an attorney to serve as planning board counsel where a partner in his firm is the municipal attorney for the same municipality, because the municipal-atto…
Can a lawyer who appears as a guest panelist on a TV legal-information show answer specific legal questions from the audience, and accept a viewer as a client afterward?
No. The opinion concluded that answering particular legal questions from audience members on a television program violates the Canons on advertising, intermediaries, and publications, and that accepti…
Is a non-compete clause in a law partnership agreement that bars a departing partner from practicing in the county ethical?
No. The opinion concluded that a restrictive covenant in a law partnership agreement (here, barring a withdrawing partner from practicing in the county for five years) is improper and unethical, becau…
If an adverse party demands a lawyer's correspondence with his client, can the lawyer hand it over without the client's consent, and is the client's silence consent?
No. The opinion concluded the client's silence is not consent, and absent client consent or a court order it is improper to turn over attorney-client correspondence even under a subpoena; the lawyer m…
Can a lawyer send a debtor a demand letter that encloses a copy of the summons and complaint the lawyer says will be filed if the debt is not paid?
No. The opinion concluded that enclosing a form of summons and complaint with a demand letter is in bad taste and professionally improper, because a person unfamiliar with legal papers might be led to…
Does a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the unauthorized practice of law change the ethics rules for a lawyer employed by a manufacturers' association to represent its members?
No. The opinion concluded that the Supreme Court's decision in United Mine Workers v. Illinois Bar Association concerned the unauthorized practice of law, a separate question from the ethics of an ass…
May an insurance carrier's attorney give the carrier a blanket form of consent allowing claimants' attorneys to negotiate settlement directly with the carrier?
Yes. The opinion concluded there is no ethical objection to any reasonable means of clearly manifesting the carrier's consent to direct negotiation with claimants' attorneys, whether the consent is gi…
Can the attorney for a municipal board of health also sue the same municipality, represent private clients before its other boards, or defend cases in its municipal court?
No. The opinion concluded that even though the board of health is largely autonomous, it remains an agency of the municipality, so its attorney may not pursue negligence claims against that municipali…
Can a member of a city's law department who prosecutes in municipal court also defend a police officer charged in that same court?
No. The opinion concluded that any member of the city's law department who prosecutes cases in the municipal court should not defend a police officer in the same court; the municipality may instead re…
Can a municipal solicitor defend a criminal defendant when the alleged offense occurred in his own municipality and was investigated by its police?
No. The opinion concluded it would be improper for a municipal solicitor to represent a defendant in a criminal action where the offense allegedly occurred in the municipality he serves and the arrest…
Can an assistant municipal attorney represent a client in a claim against the board of education that the municipality's governing body appoints?
No. The opinion concluded it would be improper for an assistant municipal attorney to prosecute a workers' compensation claim against a board of education appointed by the municipal body he represents…
Is it a conflict for an attorney to serve as counsel to a planning board when a relative sits on, and chairs, that board?
No. The opinion concluded there was no unethical conduct in an attorney representing a planning board chaired by his uncle, because in advising the board he sought no discretionary favor for a client,…
Can a lawyer who represented a widow on behalf of her late husband's estate later sue that same estate on the widow's own injury claim?
No. The opinion concluded a conflict exists, in violation of Canon 6, when an attorney who represented the widow on behalf of her deceased husband's estate then represents her in a claim against that …
Can an attorney participate in closing a savings-and-loan mortgage where the borrower pays points, given an earlier opinion calling points improper?
Yes. The opinion concluded that because the 1963 Savings and Loan Act makes the usury prohibition inapplicable to such loans, an attorney may participate in closing a savings-and-loan mortgage where p…
After suit is filed, may a plaintiff's lawyer communicate directly with the defendant's liability insurer instead of through the insurer's appointed defense counsel?
No. The opinion concluded that once a carrier has retained counsel of record to defend its insured, Canon 9 requires plaintiff's counsel to refrain from communicating with the carrier unless the carri…
Is a divorce lawyer disqualified from continuing to represent the wife because he held a reconciliation conference with the unrepresented husband and took a small fee?
No. The opinion concluded the lawyer could continue to represent the wife where he repeatedly urged the husband to get his own counsel and received no confidences, though it said he should not have ac…
Can a law firm share a building, entrance, signage, and staff with a related real estate and insurance business?
No. The opinion concluded that even if the lawyers only shared facilities and personnel, the arrangement creates the impression that they have an interest in the real estate and insurance business and…
Can the same attorney serve as counsel to both a municipality's planning board and its board of adjustment?
No. The opinion concluded it is improper for one attorney to represent both the zoning board and the planning board where each agency routinely refers matters to the other and the likelihood of disagr…
Can a legal aid society represent several groups of co-defendants with potentially adverse defenses, and can it cure the conflict by spreading them among its own staff?
No. The opinion concluded the society would have a conflict in representing multiple co-defendant groups whose defenses could be inconsistent; full disclosure cannot cure it, assigning the cases to di…
Can a lawyer structure a home purchase so title goes to the wife alone in order to keep an existing judgment against the husband from attaching to the property?
No. The opinion concluded that an attorney's participation in a fraudulent conveyance, with actual knowledge of its true character and purpose, is unethical and unprofessional conduct, even if it may …
Must a lawyer whose income comes almost entirely from being house counsel or a corporate officer keep separate personal and business bank accounts under the attorney-records rule?
No. The opinion concluded that a lawyer paid almost exclusively as house counsel or a corporate officer need not keep separate personal and business accounts merely to record his salary, since he is n…
Can a lawyer who serves a city's redevelopment agency, forecloses its tax sale certificates, or sits on its sewer authority also appear before city bodies for private clients?
No. The opinion concluded that each of the three lawyers, the redevelopment agency's counsel, the tax-sale-foreclosure attorney, and a member of the city sewer authority, is part of the municipal gove…
May a lawyer write an unpaid by-line newspaper column discussing the law without violating the ban on giving legal information through publications?
Yes. The opinion concluded the lawyer could write an unpaid by-line column discussing the National Labor Relations Act and NLRB decisions, because Canon 40 permits lawyers to write articles giving inf…
In a matrimonial case, may a wife pay her lawyer's fee up front and then be reimbursed out of the counsel fee the court later orders the husband to pay?
Yes. The opinion concluded the arrangement is ethical where there is no collusion and the fee arrangement is fully disclosed when counsel fees are sought, though the lawyer should not arrange the clie…
At a mortgage closing, may a lawyer for the lender collect a title-company charge for searches and title examination that the lawyer neither fixes nor receives?
No. The opinion concluded that where the attorney does not actually fix or receive the fee but collects a charge for the title company that includes legal work such as title evaluation, the charge for…
May the lender's attorney accept payment from the borrower for the legal services the attorney renders to the lender?
Yes. The opinion concluded it is ethical for the borrower to pay for the lender's attorney's services to the lender, provided the borrower clearly understands the lender's attorney represents the lend…
May a borough's municipal attorney also serve as legal adviser to that borough's planning board in preparing a master plan?
Not in that controversial capacity. The opinion concluded that the general principles barring a municipal attorney from dual municipal roles apply, so he cannot advise the planning board on controvers…
If a criminal defendant admits guilt to his lawyer and then takes the stand against advice and denies the charge, what must the lawyer do?
The opinion concluded the attorney should make no mention of the conflict between the client's admission and his sworn testimony, should not withdraw, and should present the case on the basis of the d…
May a county bar association adopt a plan letting clients finance legal fees through a bank that buys the attorney's installment note?
No. The opinion concluded that the bank-financed installment fee plan should be disapproved, not because it violated any particular Canon, but because it injected a third party into the lawyer-client …
May a trade association's salaried attorney-manager represent individual member companies in arbitration and NLRB matters, with the association charging and keeping a fee for that service?
The opinion concluded that Canon 35 is dispositive: an attorney employed by a trade association may render legal services in matters in which the association as an entity is interested, but the employ…
May a firm represent a local P.B.A. (police union) while it also represents defendants on police complaints and uses police officers as witnesses in other matters?
The opinion concluded that the contemplated representation of the P.B.A. was improper and should be avoided, because the firm also appeared against and alongside the same city's police officers in oth…
May a municipal planning board's attorney represent his own wife to oppose a neighbor's zoning variance before the board of adjustment?
The opinion concluded the planning board attorney should not represent his wife at the variance hearing, both because the matter could return to his planning board and create a conflict of interest an…
May a lawyer who is also a police officer on leave, and his firm, handle criminal cases in the municipality where he serves on the police force?
The opinion concluded that neither the lawyer (a police lieutenant newly admitted to the bar) nor his firm may handle any criminal case arising in the municipality where he is a police officer on leav…
May a retiring attorney send clients and friends a formal announcement that he has retired and arranged for another attorney to handle their future business?
The opinion concluded that such an announcement would be improper, because under Canon 27 it would be an indirect solicitation of employment for the other attorney; the retiring attorney's separate du…
May an attorney advertise in the law journal that he will handle tax lien foreclosures for other attorneys as a specialized legal service?
The opinion concluded the proposed advertisement was improper, because tax lien foreclosure work is not a specialized legal service within New Jersey's Canon 46 (which the Committee strictly construed…
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 lawyer who defended a man in a murder case later represent that man's wife in a divorce action against him?
The opinion concluded the attorney should not undertake the divorce action for the wife of his former criminal client, because his murder defense necessarily involved confidences and secrets, includin…
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…
When a lawyer who witnessed a codicil will be the principal witness in a will contest, may his firm still represent the proponent, and may he argue the case?
The opinion concluded the inquirer's firm may act for the proponent even though the inquirer, who attested the codicil, will be the principal witness, but the inquirer himself may not argue the matter…
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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.