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.
No New York State Bar Association opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Can a part-time city attorney with prosecutorial duties stay in the role when his law partner becomes chair of a local political committee?
The opinion concluded that a part-time city attorney with prosecutorial duties may not continue in that role once his law partner becomes chairman of a local political committee, because the committee…
If a lawyer represents two co-executors who fall out, can the lawyer take one executor's side against the other?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer who represents two co-executors may not bring a proceeding to compel an accounting or otherwise represent one executor against the other; the lawyer should press th…
Can a lawyer who once represented a judge appear before that judge in later, unrelated cases?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer who represented a judge, and the lawyer's partners and associates, should not appear before that judge; the cleaner solution in most cases is for the judge to disqu…
Can a deputy town supervisor represent private clients in tax or other litigation against the town?
The opinion concluded that a deputy town supervisor may not represent private clients in tax certiorari or other litigation against the town, because his role gives him influence over the town's affai…
Can an assistant county attorney privately represent a client in a matter he had handled for her in his official capacity?
The opinion concluded that an assistant county attorney who represented a wife in support proceedings in his official capacity may not privately represent her against the same former husband on the sa…
Can a county attorney privately represent property owners challenging their real property tax assessments?
The opinion concluded that a county attorney may not represent private property owners in proceedings to review real property assessments, because the owner's goal of lower taxes conflicts with the co…
Can a former assistant DA, now in private criminal defense, represent defendants his old office charged, and is his firm disqualified?
The opinion concluded that a former assistant DA is disqualified only from matters in which he had substantial responsibility or access to non-public information; his firm is not automatically disqual…
Can an assistant town attorney serve as counsel to the town's zoning board when the town board has sued that board?
The opinion concluded that, although an assistant town attorney may ordinarily advise the zoning board of appeals, he may not represent it once the town board sues it, because he cannot exercise indep…
Can a lawyer who serves as counsel to a professional society defend a member in a state disciplinary proceeding?
The opinion concluded that counsel to a professional society may defend a member in an Education Law Article 130 misconduct proceeding only where the society neither brought the complaint nor would fo…
Can an assistant public defender share office space with a village justice whose court the defender's office appears in?
The opinion concluded that an assistant public defender may not share office space with a village justice where members of the public defender's staff appear in that court, because the office is treat…
Can a New York lawyer run a real estate brokerage out of the same office as the law practice?
The opinion concluded that, after Bates, a lawyer may run a law practice and a real estate brokerage from the same office, but may not solicit legal work in violation of law and may not act as lawyer …
Can a part-time DA or staff prosecute a defendant the DA and an assistant had defended in private practice?
The opinion concluded that a part-time DA and the assistant who had defended a person may not prosecute or oppose that former client, the whole small staff is disqualified, and the defendant's waiver …
Can a lawyer on a legal aid board, or the lawyer's firm, defend someone the legal aid client is suing?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer-member of a legal service organization's board may not privately defend a person sued by one of the organization's indigent clients, and under the imputation rule n…
Can a lawyer who sits on a town zoning board represent private clients before other town agencies?
The opinion concluded that there is no per se bar: a lawyer-member of a town Zoning Board of Appeals, and the lawyer's firm, may represent private clients before other town agencies in matters unrelat…
Can a lawyer become part-time town attorney while the firm represents a client suing the town?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may accept appointment as part-time town attorney while the firm represents a client in litigation involving the town only if the town retains independent counsel f…
Can a lawyer drafting a client's will offer to serve as the executor?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer drafting a will may offer to serve as executor only in narrow circumstances, chiefly where the lawyer firmly believes the client would ask if aware of the lawyer's …
Can a lawyer warn a former client that the client's new lawyer may have a conflict of interest?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer who only suspects another lawyer's conflict may report the suspicion to a disciplinary authority but should not communicate it to that lawyer's present client; actu…
Can the lawyer for an estate's executor tell the surviving spouse to get their own lawyer about electing against the will?
The opinion concluded that the executor's lawyer may advise the surviving spouse to obtain independent counsel about a right of election, and may inform the spouse that such a right may exist, but may…
Can a court-appointed receiver hire his own law firm to serve as counsel in the case?
The opinion concluded that a receiver in a mortgage foreclosure action may retain the law firm of which he is a member to act as his counsel, because the court's supervision of the firm's fees and the…
Can a part-time city attorney appear before a city agency to advance his own real estate purchase?
The opinion concluded that a part-time city attorney who advises the mayor and common council may not appear before the city's urban renewal agency to obtain a plan modification letting him buy a buil…
Can one lawyer serve as attorney for both a town and a village located within that town?
The opinion concluded that it is not per se improper for a lawyer to be both town attorney and attorney for a village within the town, but the lawyer must decline or refrain where a substantial likeli…
Can a lawyer keep accepting client referrals from the same real estate broker?
The opinion concluded that it is not per se improper for a lawyer to accept repeated referrals from a real estate broker, because the temptation to please a referral source is not enough to require de…
Can a part-time public defender and his assistant represent co-defendants whose interests conflict if they keep separate offices?
The opinion concluded that a public defender and his assistant cannot represent co-defendants with conflicting interests; the whole office is treated as one firm under DR 5-105(D), and keeping separat…
Can a state estate-tax attorney handle a private client's federal estate-tax matter, given the state and federal returns are linked?
The opinion concluded that a state estate-tax attorney barred from private state estate-tax work is also barred from a client's federal estate-tax work, because reducing the federal tax necessarily re…
Can a former deputy town attorney later represent private clients in tax certiorari cases against the same town?
The opinion concluded that a former deputy town attorney may represent private clients in tax certiorari proceedings against the town only as to property for which he had no substantial responsibility…
Can a part-time town attorney handle private real estate deals in his town when clients may need town permits or variances?
The opinion concluded that a part-time town attorney may not represent private clients before town agencies, but may handle a private real estate matter that might require town permits only with care,…
Can a lawyer who represents a party in a public-sector arbitration also sit on the arbitration panel as that party's nonneutral member?
The opinion concluded that a party's lawyer may serve as a nonneutral (partisan) member of a public arbitration panel convened under Civil Service Law section 209, because EC 5-20 restricts only servi…
If a lawyer takes case-by-case retainers from a county social services department, is the lawyer disqualified from all private matters against the county, or only matters involving that department?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer retained case by case by a county department with its own counsel is disqualified only from private matters adverse to or involving that department, not from other …
Can a town attorney keep representing the town while his law partner brings a personal lawsuit against that same town?
The opinion concluded that a town attorney may not continue to represent the town while his partner sues the town personally; the conflict and appearance of impropriety remain even with outside counse…
Can a bank's lawyer have the borrower pay his fee, and can he represent both the bank and the borrower at a mortgage closing?
The opinion concluded that a lender's lawyer may have the borrower pay his fee for work actually performed, so long as the fee is not divided with the lay lending institution and the borrower is told …
Can a lawyer who shares office space with an assistant district attorney still defend criminal cases in that county?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer who shares office space with an assistant district attorney, even with no fee- or business-sharing, may not practice criminal law in the county the assistant DA ser…
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…
What private legal work can a part-time county legislator take on without a conflict with the county he serves?
The opinion concluded that a part-time county legislator may take private matters where there is no actual or potential conflict, no improper influence, and no basis for public suspicion of advantage,…
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 district attorney also serve on a bar association's attorney grievance committee?
The opinion concluded that a district attorney may not serve on a bar association grievance committee, because the statutory duty of confidentiality owed by a grievance-committee member is irreconcila…
Can a county legislator defend criminal cases in the same county, and does it matter how the district attorney's office is funded?
The opinion concluded that a county legislator may not defend criminal cases in his county where the district attorney's office is funded through a 'line item' budget that fixes prosecutorial salaries…
Can a part-time county district attorney represent a private client suing the county for civil damages?
The opinion concluded that a part-time county prosecutor may not represent a private client in a civil damages action against the county, because the county is his client regardless of his criminal-on…
Can a former city councilman sue the city for false arrest over an arrest made during his term in office?
The opinion concluded that a former city councilman may represent a false-arrest plaintiff against the city, even for an arrest made during his term, unless he had substantial responsibility for that …
Which public officers and their firms can accept assigned counsel work defending indigent criminal defendants under a county Article 18-B plan?
The opinion concluded that the plan's administrator, assistant district attorneys, county attorneys, county board members, probation officers, and their partners may not take Article 18-B assignments,…
Can a lawyer who helps run a lawyer referral service accept clients referred to him by that service, and can his firm?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer actively associated with the direction or administration of a lawyer referral service may not accept referrals from it, and neither may his partners or associates, …
Can a part-time county legislator defend a criminal case in the same county where the district attorney's office is funded by his legislature?
The opinion concluded that a part-time county legislator may not represent a defendant in a court where the prosecuting district attorney's office is funded by the county legislature of which the lawy…
Can a new district attorney's assistants prosecute cases that the DA defended as Legal Aid chief before taking office, if he screens himself off?
The opinion concluded that where a newly appointed district attorney was the Legal Aid Society's chief attorney and attorney of record on cases still pending, his assistants may not prosecute those ca…
Can a part-time county legislator represent a client in court against the county attorney his own legislature appoints?
The opinion concluded that a part-time county legislator may not appear in court in his county against the county attorney or an assistant county attorney where that county attorney is appointed by th…
If a statute bars a legislator from appearing before a state agency but expressly lets his firm's other lawyers appear, may they?
The opinion concluded that partners and associates of a legislator's firm may appear before a state agency the legislator cannot, only where a statute expressly authorizes such appearances by firm mem…
Can an assistant DA go into an outside, non-law business with a defense lawyer who appears against the DA's office, if he recuses from those cases?
The opinion concluded that an assistant district attorney may not enter a business unrelated to law practice with an attorney who defends clients prosecuted by the DA's office, and that recusing from …
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 married couple both be lawyers in the same county, one an assistant DA and the other an assistant public defender?
The opinion concluded that the spouse of an assistant district attorney may serve as a part-time assistant public defender in the same county, but an assistant public defender may not represent an acc…
Can a lawyer who serves on a state criminal-investigation agency also defend criminal cases in private practice, even in another jurisdiction?
The opinion concluded that a member of a state investigation agency charged with enforcing the criminal laws may not defend criminal matters in private practice, even in another jurisdiction, because …
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 part-time State Estate Tax Attorney also represent private clients in Surrogate's Court?
The opinion concluded that a State Estate Tax Attorney may represent private clients in Surrogate's Court only in non-tax matters, never in matters involving the State Department of Taxation and Finan…
Can a former town justice later appear as town attorney in a matter he ruled on while he was the judge?
The opinion concluded that it is improper for a lawyer to accept employment as an advocate in any matter on whose merits he previously acted in a judicial capacity.
Can a law firm partner also maintain a separate solo practice using his own letterhead at the firm's address?
The opinion concluded that a partner may also represent clients individually if there is a valid reason for the dual practice, clients understand the lawyer and not the firm represents them, and confu…
Can a lawyer serving on a volunteer county charter-revision committee also represent a union negotiating against that county?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer on a volunteer citizens' charter-revision committee may also represent a civil-service employees association in negotiations and litigation with the county, because…
Can a town attorney who advises the town assessor in his official capacity later represent the town in a dispute against the assessor?
The opinion concluded that a town attorney who has represented the town assessor only in his official capacity may represent the town in a proceeding by or against the assessor, provided no confidenti…
Can a lawyer practice in a court where his brother is the judge?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer need not forgo practice in a court where his brother is a judge, absent a statutory prohibition or special circumstances; it is the judge, not the lawyer, who is no…
Can a lawyer who volunteers as a small-claims arbitrator also practice before that same small-claims part?
The opinion concluded that an attorney who occasionally serves gratuitously as an arbitrator in a small claims part may also practice before that same part, provided he never acts in both capacities i…
Can a lawyer defend criminal cases in the county where their spouse is a probation officer?
The opinion concluded that it is not improper per se for a lawyer to represent criminal defendants in the county where the lawyer's spouse is a probation officer before any probation report is needed,…
Can a law clerk to a Supreme Court Justice also hold another part-time State government job?
The opinion concluded that, absent a controlling statute or court rule, a part-time law clerk to a Supreme Court Justice may simultaneously hold another part-time State position only if that work does…
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.