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 New Jersey lawyer pay a marketing company for client 'leads,' and when does a paid lead become a prohibited referral?
The Committees conclude lawyers may not pay for client referrals (RPC 7.3(d)) and that paying a referral fee is impermissible fee-sharing (RPC 5.4(a)). A lawyer may pay per lead but not per client ret…
Can a non-law company sell legal services by matching paying customers with outside lawyers, and can a lawyer take that work?
The Committees conclude a company that is not a law firm commits the unauthorized practice of law when it contracts with customers to provide legal services and matches them with outside lawyers. A la…
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…
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 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 firm list an out-of-state firm it merely exchanges referrals with on its letterhead as 'Of Counsel'?
No. The opinion concluded that listing a Pennsylvania firm (with which the New Jersey firm only exchanged referrals, not a partnership) on the letterhead, whether by firm name or by its individual mem…
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 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 New Jersey lawyer list himself as 'Of Counsel' to a multistate marketing firm that takes a percentage of referred-matter fees and runs group advertising?
No. The opinion concluded the arrangement is improper because the firm's fee division is an arbitrary percentage unrelated to services performed and the firm is an unregistered referral organization t…
Can a lawyer represent a group legal-services plan that insurance brokers set up for their clients, and the subscribers who use it?
Yes, conditionally. The opinion concluded there is no ethical problem if the lawyer submits the plan to the Supreme Court as the rule requires, the Court approves it, and counsel acts in accordance wi…
Can lawyers paid to run a college legal clinic cooperate with it as a qualified legal-services organization, and represent the students who use it?
The opinion concluded the clinic could qualify only under the registered-organization rule, which requires the organization (the college) to file the plan with the Supreme Court, after which a lawyer …
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 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 take collection suits referred by a commercial collection agency that handles the lawyer's retention and fees, where the agency is only the assignee of the creditors' claims?
Only on conditions. The opinion concluded that where the agency is merely the assignee, the creditor is the client, so the lawyer may be engaged only with the creditor's consent after full disclosure,…
Can a lawyer who helps a group set up a prepaid legal services plan then be hired by that group as its counsel under the plan?
It depends. The opinion concluded a lawyer may not solicit a group to organize a prepaid legal plan so that he can become its counsel, but may represent the organization if he is approached to formali…
May a lawyer take a retainer from a for-profit corporation that signs up dues-paying tenants and furnishes them the lawyer's services at no separate fee?
No. The opinion concluded the arrangement was clearly improper, referring the inquirer to DR 2-103(D), which barred a lawyer from furnishing legal services to subscribers through such a for-profit int…
After a partner is disbarred, may his firm keep his name in the firm name because his wife remains a partner, represent him and his businesses, and take clients he sends them?
The opinion concluded the firm may keep the wife as a partner and may represent the disbarred lawyer and his businesses with safeguards, may keep his surname only if it does not mislead the public, bu…
May a lawyer for an asset-search business alert the owners of unclaimed funds and sign them to contingency contracts that pay the business a percentage of any recovery?
No. The opinion concluded the proposed conduct would breach DR 2-103, treating it as improper solicitation of employment from the owners of unclaimed funds, like searching for unknown heirs and solici…
May the attorneys for a nonprofit association that runs an unemployment-compensation reserve fund represent the association's member institutions in contesting former employees' unemployment claims?
Yes. The opinion concluded the arrangement met the standards of DR 2-103(D), because the member-employer is the client, the member is free to use other counsel, and neither the fund nor the nonprofit …
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…
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…
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 …
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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.