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 lawyer who arranged and closed a mortgage loan for a longtime client foreclose that mortgage for the lender against that same client?
The opinion concluded it would be improper for the attorney to foreclose the lender's mortgage against the borrower, because the attorney had represented the borrower in about three prior matters and …
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 a New Jersey firm run a 'specialized legal services' announcement in a law journal advertising itself as New Jersey trial counsel for tort, contract, and product liability work?
The opinion concluded the announcement was improper, because the work of trial counsel is not a specialized legal service within Canon 46; any admitted attorney may try cases, and a lawyer's trial ski…
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…
May a lawyer represent a husband in a divorce when the wife once made unsolicited calls to him that did not seek his services or concern the divorce?
The opinion concluded the attorney is at liberty to represent the husband, because the wife's earlier calls were entirely unsolicited, sought no legal advice or services, and did not concern the divor…
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 …
Is the estate of a deceased forwarding attorney entitled to a share of fees the receiving attorney later earns in a separate suit the client brought directly, after the forwarder's death?
The opinion concluded that because Canon 34 allows a division of fees only on a division of service or responsibility, the deceased forwarder's estate, which performed no service and shared no respons…
If a wife consults a lawyer about her marital problems but does not retain him, may that lawyer later represent the husband in a divorce?
The opinion concluded the attorney is prevented from representing the husband: once the wife consulted him about her marital problems, Canon 6 and Canon 37 applied even though she did not retain him, …
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 a lawyer who did not arrange the loan handle the foreclosure of a mortgage that was plainly usurious?
The opinion concluded that an attorney who did not participate in the original usurious transaction may properly handle the foreclosure, because the usury statute permits the lender to sue to recover …
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 a plaintiff's lawyer contact insured defendants directly to warn them that the verdict may exceed their policy limits and that they should hire personal counsel?
The opinion concluded that while the defendants would be well served by being told the verdict might exceed their coverage, plaintiff's counsel could properly give that notice only through the defenda…
May a retiring lawyer sell his practice to another lawyer for a fixed price paid as a percentage of fees later received from his clients?
The opinion concluded the proposed sale was improper, because paying for a practice through a percentage of fees received from the seller's clients is a division of fees not based on a division of ser…
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…
May a lawyer let his name appear on a motor club's published list of attorneys who have agreed to handle members' automobile property-damage claims?
The opinion disapproved the practice, concluding that letting a lawyer's name appear on a motor club's distributed list of attorneys violated Canon 43 because the list was not an approved law list, an…
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 …
May a lawyer who serves as special counsel to a public housing authority print 'Special Counsel for Public Housing Authority of the State of New Jersey' on his own law-office letterhead?
The opinion concluded the designation would be improper as a violation of Canon 27, because listing the public appointment on the lawyer's own attorney-at-law letterhead would unduly advertise the att…
May a lawyer take part in a mortgage loan where the borrower pays 'points' to the lender, when those points may push the effective interest above the legal limit?
The opinion concluded that if the lawyer knows or reasonably should know the points charged to the borrower bear no reasonable relation to a service rendered and are a device to exact usurious interes…
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 lawyer represent someone whose business is to acquire other people's claims and then sue on them?
It depends on how the claims were acquired. The opinion concluded that where claims are merely assigned, an earlier opinion bars the lawyer from acting (intermediary exploitation under Canon 35), but …
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 lawyer who sued in his own name as his client's assignee keep the money collected to pay off fees the client owes him in other matters?
The opinion concluded he cannot. Suing as an accommodation assignee is not itself a violation, but taking the assigned claim or the money collected as payment of fees earned in other matters amounts t…
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 take part in a real estate closing run at a title company's office where the buyer has no lawyer and the title company handles the paperwork?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer may participate, because the title company's described activities do not clearly amount to the unauthorized practice of law, but if the title company prepares leg…
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 a lawyer let his name be listed under 'Lawyers' in a chamber of commerce business directory that urges readers to patronize its members?
The opinion concluded that the listing was professionally improper. Because the directory's purpose was promotional, with slogans urging readers to patronize its members, the attorney listing fell wit…
Can a lawyer's firm defend a wrongful-death action when a partner once represented the deceased in a marital dispute with the plaintiff widow?
The Committee concluded the representation was improper. The partner's knowledge from representing the deceased husband in the prior marital separation was chargeable to the firm and would be used aga…
Can the attorney for a residential developer, who also represents the construction lender, represent an individual buyer purchasing a home in the tract?
The Committee concluded that, unlike an isolated sale, a developer's attorney generally cannot also represent a home buyer, because the desire to keep the developer's and lender's business and his int…
Can a lawyer hire an independent non-lawyer adjuster to negotiate and settle a client's accident claim, and pay that adjuster a percentage of the settlement?
The Committee concluded it was improper. Engaging a layman to settle the claim offended the canons against lay partnerships and lay intermediaries, and to the extent it let the adjuster perform legal …
May a former judge or a sitting magistrate be addressed as 'Judge' while practicing law, or use the title 'Judge' on stationery?
The Committee concluded that calling an advocate 'Judge' during a trial was improper because it could suggest preferential treatment, and that a magistrate could use 'Judge' on stationery for official…
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…
Can a lawyer take over a retiring attorney's cases and pay him a share of future fees, or a lump sum, for the goodwill of the practice?
The Committee concluded both arrangements were improper. Paying a retiring attorney a percentage of future profits or a lump sum for his practice and goodwill violated the canon against dividing fees …
Can one attorney represent both defendants accused of adultery in two separate divorce suits arising from the same conduct, where each defendant consents?
The Committee concluded there was no impropriety. Assuming the adultery involved the same facts and each defendant gave full, unequivocal consent, the defendants had a common interest with no conflict…
Can a lawyer belong to a Chamber of Commerce and let his name be listed in a booklet the Chamber publishes for advertising?
The Committee concluded the lawyer could be a member of a Chamber of Commerce, but could not permit his name to be listed in the booklet because the booklet's purpose was, at least in part, advertisin…
Can a lawyer try a will contest for the estate when his own partner, who witnessed the will, must testify to the decedent's competency?
The Committee concluded it could be proper. Canon 19's reference to 'other counsel' does not necessarily exclude a partner of the lawyer-witness, so each case turns on its facts, with full disclosure …
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 developer's salaried attorney handle condominium closings for a flat fee without clearly telling buyers they should retain their own independent counsel?
The Committee concluded the attorney acted improperly. The flat closing fee covering 'all other usual closing costs' and the lukewarm notice that buyers could retain counsel did not amount to the full…
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 give a newspaper an interview and resume of his practice for a 'father and son businesses' feature column?
The Committee concluded he could not. A photograph and resume of the lawyer's background, experience, and clients in a feature column had the appearance of advertising and would violate Canon 27, even…
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…
Can a New Jersey firm form a patent-law association with a lawyer admitted only in D.C. and list him as 'Patent Attorney' on its letterhead?
The Committee concluded the association and listing were improper. A New Jersey firm is presumed to consist of New Jersey-admitted lawyers, so a patent attorney not admitted in the state could not be …
Can a lawyer allow a product manufacturer to run a legal-periodical 'article,' with his photograph, praising his use of the company's dictation machine?
The Committee concluded he could not. A lawyer's cooperation in such a manufacturer-sponsored article portraying his advantageous use of the product would violate the advertising prohibition of Canon …
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 lawyer be engaged by a commercial collection agency to sue the debtors of the agency's customers?
No. The Committee concluded it is improper for an attorney to be engaged by a commercial collection agency to institute suit against debtors of the agency's customers, because the engagement lets a la…
Can a seller's attorney accept a fee paid by the buyer, under the sale agreement, for legal services the attorney rendered only to the seller?
The Committee concluded it was proper, provided the seller's attorney fixes the fee himself under Canon 12 and it is reasonable compensation agreed with the attorney, not a fee set solely between the …
Can a lawyer who counseled a husband and his second wife about their failing marriage later represent the wife in a divorce against the husband?
The Committee concluded he may not. Having counseled the husband and likely received his confidences while trying to save the marriage, the lawyer could not represent the second wife against him, and …
Can a lawyer who takes over a dissolved firm's practice call himself 'successor to' that firm on his letterhead and notify the firm's old clients?
The Committee concluded the plan was improper. The phrase 'successor to' constituted solicitation barred by Canon 27, and because the firm had dissolved, its name could not be carried on by an individ…
Can a lawyer who is also a CPA say so on his cards, stationery, or office window, and may he practice law and accounting at the same time?
The Committee concluded that stating 'CPA' on cards, stationery, or office window was improper advertising under Canon 27, but that practicing law and accounting at the same time was not, per se, a vi…
Can a lawyer building an appellate-only practice mail announcements of that fact to other lawyers and place a notice in the New Jersey Law Journal?
The Committee concluded he could place a notice in the New Jersey Law Journal limited as Canon 46 prescribes, but could not mail announcements to other lawyers.
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 …
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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.