New York State Bar Association Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the New York State Bar Association, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Can a lawyer take a town board seat that requires a financial-disclosure form listing clients who do business with the town?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may not file a disclosure form revealing a client confidence or secret without consent, so the lawyer must obtain each affected client's consent, secure a court rul…
Can a legal aid office set up a panel of volunteer lawyers to take clients it has to turn away because of a conflict of interest?
The opinion concluded yes: an independent conflicts panel may represent eligible clients the office cannot take, the panel may share the office's malpractice insurance, and a board member of the organ…
Does a recycling ordinance excuse a lawyer from confidentiality duties, and how must a lawyer recycle paper that contains client confidences?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer must comply with a general recycling law but must still protect client confidences and secrets, screening papers and shredding or otherwise securing those that coul…
Can a lawyer sue a former client when the new matter is unrelated, and does the recency of the prior representation matter?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may represent a plaintiff against a former client unless the matters are substantially related or the lawyer holds relevant confidences; the duty of loyalty ends wh…
How should a New York lawyer dispose of closed client files, and how does dissolution of the firm change those obligations?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may destroy closed files after offering client-owned documents to the client and preserving documents needed to protect substantial rights or required by law, alway…
Can a New York lawyer hire a collection agency to collect an unpaid legal fee from a client?
The opinion concluded that, overruling earlier guidance, a lawyer may use a collection agent to recover a fully earned legal fee, but only after exhausting all reasonable efforts short of litigation a…
Can an assistant district attorney sell media rights to her role in a prosecution, and help develop her character in a screenplay?
The opinion concluded that an assistant district attorney may sell media rights to her role and help develop her character once the prosecution is complete, but may not negotiate or enter such an agre…
When the same insurer covers both the plaintiff and the defendant, can the defense lawyer use the plaintiff's insurance file that the carrier forwards to use against the plaintiff?
The opinion concluded that defense counsel hired by the carrier may not use the plaintiff's insurance file obtained from the carrier to circumvent the rules of discovery, because doing so is unfair ba…
When a public defender represents two unrelated defendants and one tells the lawyer the other confessed, must the lawyer withdraw, is the whole office disqualified, and can the lawyer explain why?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer must withdraw from representing both clients, the entire public defender's office is likewise disqualified from representing either, and the lawyer may not reveal…
Can a lawyer interview an expert witness retained by the opposing party without the consent of opposing counsel?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may communicate ex parte with an adversary's retained expert witness without opposing counsel's consent, because the expert is a non-party witness and not a 'party'…
What can a New York lawyer do when a client says he intends to commit a future crime?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer may never further the client's criminal purpose and should try to persuade the client to abandon it; the lawyer may withdraw, and must withdraw if continuing woul…
Can one lawyer keep defending two co-defendants in a malpractice case when one of them refuses consent to the joint representation?
The opinion concluded that where one co-defendant may have a cross-claim against the other, the lawyer may not represent both without each client's informed consent; if a client has specifically asked…
When a lawyer jointly represents two partners and one tells the lawyer something in confidence, can the lawyer reveal it to the other partner?
The opinion concluded that, absent express or implied consent, a lawyer jointly representing two clients may not disclose to one a confidential communication from the other relating to the representat…
If a lawyer on a bar rehabilitation committee learns of another lawyer's misconduct during counseling, must they report it to disciplinary authorities?
The opinion concluded that members of a bar rehabilitation committee are not obligated to report misconduct learned while counseling a lawyer for drug or alcohol abuse; reporting would destroy the tru…
Can a criminal defense lawyer keep a piece of physical evidence the client says was stolen from a police station?
The opinion concluded that whether the lawyer may retain physical evidence turns on whether the law imposes a duty to surrender it; if the law requires disclosure the lawyer is ethically bound to comp…
Can a lawyer subpoenaed before a grand jury refuse to reveal a client's whereabouts learned in confidence?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may refuse to reveal a client's whereabouts so long as a good-faith claim of privilege is raised, and may postpone court-ordered testimony pending timely appellate …
If someone confesses a crime while trying in good faith to hire a lawyer who already represents an adverse client, what must the lawyer do?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer may not disclose or use the would-be client's confession, must decline that person's retainer, and must withdraw from representing the existing client on that mat…
Must a lawyer report an adverse party's perjury committed in an earlier case the lawyer had no part in, when reporting would hurt the lawyer's client?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer need not report a non-client's perjury committed in a prior proceeding in which the lawyer's services were not employed, and need not report it where disclosure wou…
Can an insurance company's salaried staff lawyer defend an insured the company is denying coverage to?
The opinion concluded that once the carrier persists in disclaiming coverage, its staff lawyer may not defend the insured or handle a coverage declaratory-judgment action, because the conflict is so s…
Can a part-time county public defender sue the county that employs him on behalf of private clients?
The opinion concluded that a part-time county public defender may represent private clients in civil litigation against the county, because his clients are indigent defendants rather than the county, …
Can one lawyer represent a wife in her divorce and also represent, in a separate matrimonial case, the husband of the woman she names as the other party?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may not simultaneously represent the wife in a divorce and the co-respondent's husband in a separate matrimonial proceeding, because their interests differ in too m…
Must a lawyer keep client confidences he learned while working as a paralegal before admission, and is his new firm disqualified?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer is bound to preserve confidences and secrets he acquired as a paralegal before admission, so where that information is relevant he may not take the adverse matter, …
Must a lawyer for an infant's guardian tell the court the guardian is violating a court order on the infant's funds?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer should disclose the guardian's continuing violation to the court, because the lawyer's real client is the infant ward and no information about the guardian's fidu…
Can a legal aid director make staff lawyers file case-specific status reports for a board that includes nonlawyers?
The opinion concluded that staff attorneys of a legal service organization should not be required to give the board case-specific status reports absent client consent, and even with consent the board …
Can a lawyer disclose that a client has said they intend to commit suicide?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may take appropriate steps, including disclosure, to prevent a client's suicide; where the disclosure of intent came in the course of the representation, the lawyer…
Can Legal Aid lawyers share client confidences with an outside research group without client consent?
The opinion concluded that Legal Aid lawyers may not divulge clients' confidences or secrets to a not-for-profit research organization without the clients' informed consent, even for a study meant to …
Must a criminal defense lawyer disclose past crimes and the location of bodies a client revealed in confidence?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer must not disclose a client's confidential revelation of prior undiscovered crimes or the location of victims' bodies, may destroy privileged work product, should no…
Can a lawyer share confidential client information, including trust-account data, with an outside accounting or bookkeeping service?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may give limited confidential information, including trust-account data, to an outside accounting or data-processing agency for legitimate office purposes without f…
What must a lawyer do when a convicted client asks the lawyer to hold instruments bought with the proceeds of the crime?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer must immediately reject a client's request to hold for safekeeping negotiable instruments bought with the proceeds of the client's crime, but the lawyer's duty to p…
When can a lawyer destroy or dispose of a client's closed files?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may dispose of closed files once any legally mandated retention period has run and the client has no foreseeable need for them, after seeking the client's dispositi…
Must a lawyer reveal that a bankrupt client concealed assets from the trustee after the lawyer learned of it and withdrew?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer need not disclose the concealed assets, because a November 1976 amendment to DR 7-102(B)(1) removed the only provision that had required disclosure when the infor…
Can a law firm represent a wife in a divorce when one of its associates recently represented the husband's company in a related matter?
The opinion concluded that a firm may not represent the wife in a matrimonial action, absent the husband's consent, where an associate recently represented the husband's corporation on a matter (a buy…
Can a lawyer sue a manufacturer for an injured worker when the lawyer's firm represents the worker's employer, who may be impleaded as a third-party defendant?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer should generally decline, because the employer his firm already represents is likely to be impleaded as a third-party defendant; he may take the case only if impl…
Can a lawyer hire a secretary who is leaving a firm the lawyer has pending adversarial matters against?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer may hire the departing secretary, but if the secretary holds confidential information about the pending adversarial matters, the lawyer must caution the secretary…
Can a firm keep suing a driver one partner used to represent on the same accident, even after that case settled and everyone consents?
The opinion concluded that a partnership may not continue to represent personal-injury plaintiffs against a driver whom one partner formerly represented on the same accident, even though that claim ha…
Can a criminal defense lawyer tell the authorities where the client hid the stolen property the client is charged with taking?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer for a larceny defendant has no duty to reveal the location of the stolen property and that doing so without the client's consent would be improper, because the conc…
Can a lawyer who once represented a corporation later sue its former president for stock-sale fraud on behalf of a stockholder?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer who formerly represented a corporation may not represent a stockholder suing the former president individually for stock-sale fraud unless the matter would require …
Can a lawyer hire a part-time secretary who keeps working at an adversary law firm?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may not employ a part-time secretary who continues to work at another law office with which he has periodic adversarial contact, because the foreseeable leak of cli…
Does a client's new lawyer have to notify the former lawyer about a settlement?
The opinion concluded that, absent a statutory lien, a successor lawyer has no duty or right to notify the discharged predecessor of a settlement without the client's consent; the successor is not res…
Can a lawyer hand a client's escrow-account checks to government investigators without the client's consent?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer should not turn over a client's escrow-account records to government investigators without the client's consent unless directed by a proper tribunal or required by …
Browse New York State Bar Association opinions by topic
Legal ethics opinions from the New York State Bar Association 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.