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 lawyer donate legal services, such as a will, to a charity auction or silent-auction fundraiser?
The Committee concludes a lawyer may donate specified legal services for a charity fundraiser, overruling Opinion 319; the charity is not 'recommending' the lawyer under RPC 7.2(c) or 7.3(d), so long …
Can a New Jersey lawyer buy a competitor's name as a search-engine keyword so the lawyer's own website appears when someone searches that competitor?
Yes. The Committee held that buying a competitor's name as a keyword does not violate the RPCs, but inserting a hyperlink on a competitor's name to divert the user violates RPC 8.4(c). The Supreme Cou…
Can a New Jersey lawyer participate in online legal-services platforms like Avvo, LegalZoom, or Rocket Lawyer?
No. The Committees held that New Jersey lawyers may not participate in Avvo's legal services because it requires impermissible fee sharing and referral fees (RPC 5.4(a), 7.2(c), 7.3(d)), and may not s…
Under New Jersey's rules at the time, could a home office or a 'virtual office' qualify as a lawyer's bona fide office, and how could satellite or of-counsel offices be listed on letterhead?
The Committee concluded a home office could qualify as a bona fide office but a 'virtual office' could not; a virtual office could be listed as a satellite only if marked 'by appointment only,' and of…
Can a New Jersey lawyer charge a contingent fee in a municipal-court motor vehicle or disorderly-persons case, such as refunding the fee if the charge is not reduced?
No. The Committee concluded that RPC 1.5(d)(2)'s ban on contingent fees in criminal cases also applies to quasi-criminal municipal-court matters, so lawyers may not offer to refund fees if a motor veh…
Can a law firm organized as a professional corporation create and wholly own a subsidiary law firm, keep the subsidiary's profits, and name the subsidiary after the lawyers who run it?
Yes to all three, with conditions. A law-firm PC may form a wholly-owned subsidiary organized as a PC or LLC to practice a specialized area of law, and may receive the subsidiary's net profits without…
In New Jersey, what makes a law firm's direct-mail solicitation letter to people charged with municipal offenses cross from permissible advertising into an ethics violation?
A joint opinion of the ACPE and the Committee on Attorney Advertising holds that solicitation letters which cast baseless aspersions on prosecutors and police, or misstate the prosecutor's role as sim…
Can a lawyer run a for-profit adoption referral and consulting business alongside a law practice, and advertise the two together?
The Committee concluded a lawyer may operate a separate for-profit referral business, but the law office and the other business must be kept entirely separate; advertising the referral service in conj…
Can salaried employees or in-house insurance defense lawyers, who are not partners, have their names appear in a law firm's name on the letterhead?
No. The Committee held that listing employees' or salaried in-house lawyers' names in a firm name implies a partnership; under RPC 7.5 lawyers who are not in fact partners may not hold themselves out …
Can a group of attorneys run lender-sponsored ads promoting that they can place loans at below-market fees with a particular lender?
No. The 'power broker' arrangement, in which a lender selects attorneys and pays for ads touting their access to below-market loan placement fees, is improper: it tends to mislead readers about the at…
May a New Jersey lawyer hold free public legal seminars, advertise them in newspapers, and later represent people who attended?
Yes. The opinion concluded a lawyer may conduct free public legal seminars and advertise them in print media, and may later accept employment from an attendee, provided the seminar serves as a genuine…
May a lawyer run a for-profit corporation that puts on public educational programs about the law, advertise the participating attorneys, and represent attendees afterward?
Yes. The opinion concluded that advertisement of the contemplated educational programs in print media may be done and that attorneys who participate as lecturers may accept employment from individuals…
May a law firm join a for-profit business networking association whose members exchange sales leads and referrals?
Yes. The opinion concluded that joining such a business-lead association does not amount to giving compensation to the organization to recommend or secure clients, likening it to membership in service…
May a New Jersey lawyer practice under, and use on her letterhead, the name of her out-of-state firm that also has a New Jersey office?
Yes, under the rule as amended in 1984. The opinion concluded that a firm with offices in more than one jurisdiction may use the same name in each, so long as the letterhead clearly shows the New Jers…
Can a New Jersey law firm list an affiliated out-of-state law firm by name on its letterhead?
Yes. The opinion concluded a New Jersey firm may show the name of an affiliated Pennsylvania firm on its letterhead under its Philadelphia office listing, noting the affiliation, so long as it is clea…
Can a lawyer advertise as a specialist in the legal problems of the elderly and offer reduced or no fees to seniors?
No, as proposed. The opinion concluded the advertisement was misleading and improper because it promised reduced or no fees without stating any definite fee terms, creating unjustified expectations, a…
Can a lawyer tell the media the amount of a personal-injury settlement when that amount is not part of the public record?
No. The opinion concluded it is unethical for a lawyer to disclose to the media the details of a personal-injury settlement that are not a matter of public record, because doing so can reveal a client…
Can a lawyer send fee-schedule information to a registered group legal-services plan without committing improper solicitation?
Yes. The opinion concluded that furnishing the fee information allowed by the advertising rule to a group properly formed and registered under the legal-services-plan rule is proper advertising, not i…
Can a lawyer with no experience in a field advertise his availability for conferences by relying on an associated out-of-state attorney's expertise?
No. The opinion concluded that an advertisement by a lawyer who admittedly has no experience in the advertised field is misleading and deceptive, and impliedly holds him out as a specialist, both impr…
Can a New Jersey lawyer pay to join a for-profit real-estate agency listing or a lay-owned advertising company that refers clients for a fee?
No. The opinion concluded that both arrangements are improper because neither is a bar-operated referral service, the fee structure pays for referrals rather than advertising, and the lay company's na…
Can a lawyer answer general legal questions from the audience on a radio or TV call-in program, and may the lawyer take on a caller as a client from it?
The opinion modified Opinion 148 to permit a lawyer to answer general legal questions on call-in programs, with a disclaimer urging the inquirer to seek competent legal advice, but kept the bar on acc…
Can a lawyer who writes a legal column for a business publication be identified by name and as a member of his law firm?
Yes. The opinion concluded that, after Bates v. Arizona, a lawyer writing such a column may identify himself as a member of a law firm, modifying and overruling earlier opinions that had barred using …
After Bates, can a New Jersey lawyer send letters advertising legal services to businesses and the public with whom the lawyer has no prior relationship?
Yes, within limits. The opinion concluded that simple letters advertising the availability of legal services, addressed generally to a segment of the population the lawyer does not personally know, ar…
Can a lawyer advertise routine-service fees together with a discount for members of any identifiable group of at least 100 people?
No. The opinion concluded the advertisement was improper because it was designed to encourage people to form a group to obtain a fee reduction, circumventing the rule that controls cooperation with re…
Can a New Jersey lawyer who is also a CPA list that credential, or advertise as 'Financial,' in a yellow-pages directory listing?
No. A lawyer may not indicate CPA membership in a directory advertisement, and the bare designation 'Financial' is misleading and ambiguous because it does not identify any field of law practice; both…
Can a New Jersey lawyer who is also a CPA put the CPA designation on the law-office letterhead?
No. The CPA designation is not a legal degree and advertises qualifications for a separate profession; DR 2-102(D) bars a lawyer who also practices another profession from indicating it on the letterh…
Can a New Jersey lawyer use the title 'Doctor' for a J.D., and may a lawyer advertise a Ph.D. in Spanish or fluency in Spanish?
A lawyer admitted in New Jersey may use the J.D. degree and the title 'Doctor' because it indicates legal training, but may not list a non-law 'Ph.D. in Spanish' on a card or letterhead; the Committee…
Can a New Jersey lawyer state on the letterhead that he is admitted to practice before particular federal courts, like the U.S. Tax Court?
Yes. The opinion saw no objection to a lawyer stating on the letterhead that he is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico, where he has met those co…
Can a New Jersey lawyer practice under a trade name like 'The Budget Barrister' or 'The Legal Clinic of John Doe, Esq.'?
A professional corporation's name must contain only the shareholders' names, so the proposed trade names fail; for a non-corporate practice, 'The Legal Clinic of John Doe, Esq.' is permissible but 'Th…
What letterhead and office-sharing arrangements may a New Jersey lawyer use: an accountant's name on a shared door, a sign at a realtor's office, an out-of-state bar admission, or an out-of-state P.O.-box 'branch'?
An accountant's name may share a door if it creates no appearance of partnership, and an out-of-state bar admission may be noted if not deceptive; but a lawyer's sign at a realtor's premises risks an …
Can a nonprofit legal-services project practice under a trade name and list non-lawyer staff on its letterhead and business cards?
No trade name: under DR 2-102(B) the project may not practice under a fictitious trade name, and the responsible attorney must be identified. The opinion allowed a social-service specialist's name on …
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 offer his corporate clients a prepaid group legal-services plan to provide legal services to their employees?
No. The opinion held the proposed plan violates DR 2-103(C) and DR 2-103(D)(4)(b), treating it as solicitation under Ohralik rather than protected advertising under Bates.
When a lawyer takes over a deceased attorney's files and wills, may he publish a newspaper notice telling the deceased attorney's clients how to reach him?
Yes. The opinion concluded that a lawyer who takes over a deceased attorney's files has an obligation to contact those clients so their matters are properly handled, and that the proposed newspaper no…
Can a New Jersey lawyer place a notice in the Law Journal or the Lawyers Diary and Manual advertising that he is available to act as a consultant to or associate with other attorneys in a particular field of law?
Yes. The opinion concluded it is not improper for a New Jersey lawyer to advertise his availability to act as a consultant to or associate with another attorney in a particular field of law by placing…
Can a collection-practice law office use a letterhead that drops any reference to being a law firm, and can it list a non-lawyer office administrator on the letterhead?
No. The opinion concluded that a letterhead omitting any reference to a law firm is misleading and prohibited, and that naming an office administrator, whether a lawyer or a layman, on the letterhead …
May a New Jersey lawyer who teaches at a state college use the title "Doctor" and his "J.D." degree solely in connection with his academic position?
Yes. The opinion concluded the lawyer may ethically use his J.D. degree and the title "Doctor" strictly in connection with his academic position, even though New Jersey did not permit use of the degre…
May a lawyer donate legal services to a charity so the charity can auction those services as a fundraiser?
No. The opinion concluded it is improper under DR 2-103 because the arrangement puts the charity in the position of recommending the lawyer and being paid by him for the introduction; donating nonlega…
May a lawyer serve as legal advisor to a physicians' malpractice newsletter, be named as its advisor, write a regular column, and speak at its seminars?
In the abstract, yes. The opinion concluded the four proposed activities are permissible as public legal education under EC 2-2, but cautioned the lawyer must avoid self-laudatory conduct that would v…
May a New Jersey lawyer who moved to Florida and joined the Florida Bar publish an announcement in the New Jersey Law Journal that he now practices in Miami?
Yes. The opinion concluded the announcement, limited to publication in the New Jersey Law Journal, does not infringe the Disciplinary Rules; it is a proper formal announcement of a changed address and…
May a lawyer accept a free, unsolicited listing in a 'professional directory' that is distributed only to a few affluent communities?
No. The opinion concluded the listing is improper because a directory limited to a few communities gives the chosen lawyers an undue advertising advantage over others, and the fact that the lawyer nei…
What may a lawyer say in an announcement sent to other lawyers offering his availability as a consultant in a specialized field, and may he list an earned degree?
The opinion concluded the announcement may state availability to consult in planning and zoning, but may not use non-branch labels like environmental or housing, may not note an earned degree (New Jer…
May a lawyer who belongs to a lawyer-pilots association display the association's decal on the door of his airplane?
No. The opinion concluded that identifying his plane with his profession, even without his name on the decal, is indirect advertising of his profession and was not permitted under the Disciplinary Rul…
When a lawyer writes articles for a trade journal, what biographical information may appear in the author byline?
Only the author's name and the fact that he is a New Jersey lawyer. The opinion concluded that adding the J.D. degree and the other proposed biographical details was self-laudatory and prohibited, bec…
When a lawyer runs for office in a service organization, can his campaign materials identify him as a lawyer and list his legal background?
Yes, in a limited and dignified way. The opinion concluded that identifying a lawyer-candidate as a lawyer with a brief legal resume falls within the recognized exception for political publicity, but …
Can a lawyer advertise services like tracing heirs for title clearance to the public, or announce that availability to other lawyers in a legal journal?
Advertising such services to the general public is improper, but the opinion concluded a lawyer may publish a dignified announcement of his availability as a consultant or associate to other lawyers i…
Can a lawyer advertise that he represents only poor people at reduced fees where the county has no free legal services?
No. The opinion concluded that charging fees scaled to a client's ability to pay is proper, but advertising or soliciting professional employment for a named lawyer on that basis would violate the pub…
When a lawyer leaves government service to return to private practice, what can the announcement card say?
The opinion concluded such announcements must follow the professional-notice rules: a brief card may give new or changed associations or addresses to lawyers, clients, former clients, friends, and rel…
Can a lawyer let a novelist client name a lawyer character in a novel after the lawyer?
Only with caution. The opinion concluded the lawyer should not grant permission unless he first makes certain that doing so would not violate the publicity rule barring self-laudatory public communica…
Can a lawyer use the law firm's letterhead to send a political endorsement letter?
No. The opinion concluded that a letter on a law firm's stationery, sent to police describing benefits if certain candidates were elected, was improper; publishing lawyers' endorsements on firm statio…
Can a lawyer list his law-school graduation, bar admission, and new office in a university alumni booklet, and what may he list there?
Only a basic listing. The opinion concluded a lawyer may not advertise his graduation, bar passage, or office opening in an alumni booklet, which is not an approved law list, but may list only his nam…
Can a law firm put its firm name or the partners' names on a Christmas or other seasonal greeting card?
No, not in the firm name. The opinion adopted ABA Formal Opinion 309: seasonal greetings should not be sent in the firm name or in an attorney capacity, should not refer to the profession, and should …
If a partner leaves a firm to become an active associate at another firm but keeps a small interest in the old one, can his name stay in the old firm's name?
No. The opinion concluded that the name of a partner who withdraws from a firm but continues to practice law in New Jersey should be omitted from the firm name to avoid misleading the public.
Did Opinion 183's permission to list 'J.D., LL.M. (in Taxation)' apply to professional announcements?
Yes. This opinion clarified that the last sentence of Opinion 183, allowing the degree language, was a reply to an inquiry about the distribution of announcements, and so is directed to announcements.
Can a firm's announcement say that associating attorneys are with its 'Securities Law and Corporate Practice Department,' and may it be sent to lawyers?
Yes, to lawyers only. The opinion concluded that 'Securities Law and Corporate Practice' is a particular branch of law under Canon 46, so the inquirer may include that language in an announcement sent…
Can a lawyer list degrees like 'J.D., LL.M. (in Taxation)' after his name in a professional announcement?
Yes, to lawyers only. The opinion concluded that, under Canon 46, the inquirer may include the degree language 'J.D., LL.M. (in Taxation)' in an announcement he sends to the local bar.
Can a bar association set up, and lawyers join, a plan to finance clients' legal fees through local banks?
No, as revised. The opinion concluded that even after deleting the provision letting the bank hire the lawyer to sue a defaulting client, the legal-fee financing plan still connoted a commercializatio…
Could a lawyer collect legal fees through a bank credit-card plan, validating and depositing the bill for immediate payment?
No, at the time. The opinion concluded that, following the ABA, it would be unprofessional for a lawyer to subscribe to a bank credit-card plan for collecting legal fees, because such plans treat prof…
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 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…
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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.