Oklahoma Bar Association Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Oklahoma Bar Association, with full citations and source links on every page.
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When a firm represented several aligned parties but only the lead client paid, what does the firm owe the others once that client sells out and drops the appeal?
The Committee concluded the firm must notify every party who relied on its representation that the lead client has withdrawn, that the firm will not resist the appeal unless separately employed and pa…
May a law firm let its name appear on an automobile association's law list of recommended attorneys for the association's insureds to use in litigation?
The Committee concluded the listing would not be proper. Canon 27 precluded it, the ABA had not approved the particular law list, and prior Oklahoma opinions had decided similar questions the same way…
May a lawyer write signed newspaper articles commenting on appellate decisions and how they affect the public, and may he comment before the decision is final?
The Board concluded he may write such articles, under his own name, if they make no offer to advise and avoid any implication of advertising; but he may not comment on a decision until it is final, be…
After examining a title for a prospective purchaser and noting defects, may the lawyer take a fee from the seller to cure those same defects?
The Board concluded he may, but only by the express consent of all concerned given after a full disclosure of the facts, under Rule 8.
May a lawyer accept a standing monthly retainer from businesses that openly lend at usurious rates?
The Board concluded that a business association with an habitual violator of the usury laws is not to be countenanced; it is unbecoming a member of the bar and tends to bring the profession into disre…
Must a criminal-defense lawyer withdraw from defending a man accused of embezzling school funds after the lawyer is later appointed attorney for the school board?
The Board concluded he should withdraw. Representing the board generally while defending a person charged with embezzling its funds would create at least the appearance of impropriety.
After leaving office, may a former county attorney represent a divorcing wife against a husband he once prosecuted in a bastardy proceeding involving the same couple?
The Board concluded it depends. If the divorce is wholly dissociated from the bastardy matter he prosecuted, he may accept; if the divorce facts are associated with facts he investigated in office, Ru…
After leaving office, may a former county attorney represent a private client in a civil damage suit arising out of a collision caused by a crime he prosecuted in office?
The Board concluded he may not. The damage suit could not be dissociated from the facts of the collision he had prosecuted, so Rule 38 barred him from accepting the private employment.
Must a lawyer disclose a client's identity to government investigators when the client only sought advice about possibly unlawful conduct?
No. The Board concluded that a lawyer properly refused to disclose to a Customs agent the name of a client who had sought advice about possibly smuggled goods, because nothing showed the client announ…
Will the bar opine on whether a lawyer-executor may also charge the estate an attorney's fee for his legal work?
The Board declined to opine. It concluded the question of whether a lawyer-executor may charge an attorney's fee on top of his executor's fee is a matter of legal rights for the court, not professiona…
When may an office-sharing lawyer take a suit related to a matter his office-mate handled, and when is the original lawyer disqualified from the other side?
The Board concluded an office-mate may take the suit if the original lawyer is not disqualified, but that lawyer may not represent the opposing side if he learned related confidences representing the …
Can a lawyer keep a card in a city directory if he trims it to just his name and 'Attorney and Counsellor at Law'?
No. The Board concluded that even a pared-down card in a city directory violates Rules 29 and 45, because a city directory whose circulation is not confined to lawyers is not a reputable law list or d…
Can a lawyer mail other lawyers postcards advertising his brief-writing service?
No. The Board concluded that mailing postcards to lawyers soliciting brief-writing work is improper; a notice of a specialized service for lawyers may appear only in approved law lists or directories,…
Can a salaried in-house lawyer collect statutory attorney's fees in his employer's foreclosures and turn them over to the employer?
No. The Board concluded that a salaried lawyer collecting foreclosure attorney's fees and turning them over to the loan-company employer is an improper division of fees with a non-lawyer under Rule 36…
Can a lawyer who once represented an estate's administrator later sue an heir's share in that same, still-open estate for a creditor?
Yes. The Board concluded that a lawyer who briefly represented an administrator and withdrew may later accept employment from a creditor seeking to reach an heir's contingent share; nothing in Rule 8 …
Can a lawyer list his name in bold or distinctive type in a telephone directory?
No. The Board concluded that listing a lawyer's name in bold-faced type in a telephone directory is a form of advertising interdicted by Rule 29; an ordinary listing in the same style as other lawyers…
Can a lawyer run a professional card listing his specialties in a city directory aimed at the public?
No. The Board concluded that a card noting special branches of practice may go only in a reputable law list circulated among lawyers, not in a city directory aimed at the public; the directory card wa…
Can a lawyer with no interest in a case send a Supreme Court justice a letter arguing his views on the pending appeal?
No. The Board concluded that an uninvited brief-like letter to a justice about a pending case, sent without the consent or knowledge of counsel of record, is most reprehensible and exposes the lawyer …
Can a lawyer call a witness who is being paid a percentage of the recovery for testifying?
No. The Board concluded that knowingly calling a witness compensated on a contingent percentage of the recovery for his testimony is improper and contrary to public policy, and violates Rule 31's duty…
Can a former prosecutor sue on a note for the defense fees in a case he once prosecuted?
Yes. The Board concluded that a former County Attorney suing on a note given for defense fees in a bastardy case he prosecuted does not violate Rule 38, because he never passed on the facts of the not…
Can a lawyer accept collection business from a lay collection agency or unapproved law list, whether or not he shares the fee with it?
No. The Board concluded that handling collections funneled by lay agencies or unapproved law lists violates Rules 36, 37, 29, 45 and 31, both as improper fee-sharing and as touting, even when the lawy…
Can a lawyer who spots a newly filed suit send the defendant a copy of the petition and offer his services before the defendant is served?
No, where no relationship exists; the Board concluded it is prohibited solicitation under Rule 29. A lawyer on a general retainer with the defendant may forward the petition as a courtesy, but one onl…
Can a lawyer on a monthly retainer or salary from a loan company collect the attorney fees stipulated in the company's notes and turn those fees over to the company?
The Board of Governors concluded no. Whether the lawyer was on a monthly retainer or salaried, returning collected attorney fees to the loan company was an improper division of fees with a non-lawyer …
Can a lawyer who collects a contractual attorney fee in a mortgage foreclosure keep part of it and remit the balance to the client?
The Board of Governors concluded no. An arrangement under which the lawyer kept two-thirds of the foreclosure attorney fee and remitted one-third to the client was a division of fees with a non-lawyer…
Can a lawyer arrange for estate appraisers to undervalue property to dodge inheritance tax, and bill for that effort?
No. The Board concluded that arranging a deliberately low appraisal to avoid inheritance tax is a fraud on the county court and the State subjecting the lawyer to disbarment, and he may not consider t…
Can a law firm list an 'Insurance Adjustment Department' and the names of non-lawyer adjusters on its letterhead?
A firm may note an insurance-adjustment department with a bar member's name, since claim adjustment is professional employment; but listing non-lawyer adjusters' names on the letterhead is objectionab…
What are a lawyer's duties when a non-lawyer takes a case in the lawyer's absence and signs the lawyer's name to court papers?
The non-lawyer's conduct is the unlawful practice of law. If the lawyer authorized it he aided UPL and violated Rule 29; if he did not, he should proceed for the innocent client but tell the non-lawye…
Can a former judge be retained in a case that was pending before him if he never ruled on its merits?
Yes. The Board concluded that a former district judge who only allowed a routine amended-petition filing, without passing on the merits, did not violate Rule 38 by later accepting employment in that c…
Could the lawyer who drafted a will, witnessed it, and was named executor both testify about its execution and the testator's capacity and conduct the contested probate?
No. The Board concluded the lawyer could not both give substantive testimony about the will's preparation, execution, and the testator's capacity and have charge of the contested probate; Rule 21 dire…
Can a lawyer fund an indigent client's litigation expenses on a contingent-fee basis when the client likely cannot repay?
No. The Board concluded that Rule 44 lets a lawyer advance expenses only subject to definite reimbursement; financing an indigent client's litigation with no real prospect of repayment is improper cha…
What must a lawyer do when his name keeps appearing in law lists that the bar has not approved as reputable?
He must promptly act to discontinue the listing; under amended Rule 45 a lawyer who permits his card to continue in an unapproved publication after notice is guilty of unprofessional conduct, and unap…
Can a lawyer start an insurance-adjusting business and mail cards to insurance companies announcing the service?
If the lawyer adjusts claims, mailing such cards is prohibited solicitation under Rule 29; even a pure fact-investigation business raises concern when it can become a cloak for indirect solicitation o…
Could a lawyer accept a retainer and charge a reasonable fee to help a person obtain a leave of absence, parole, or pardon?
Yes. Adopting ABA Opinion 61, the Board concluded a lawyer may accept a reasonable fee for representing a convict in a parole or pardon application, subject to the rules of professional conduct: no so…
After representing taxpayers who fought a school-district annexation, could the lawyer later represent the annexing district resisting their effort to withdraw?
No. The Board concluded the lawyer could not, on the same annexation controversy, switch to represent the school district resisting the former clients' withdrawal; Rule 8 forbids later employment adve…
Could a sitting mayor take an assigned share of the contingent fee in the city's own litigation and then vote, as a commissioner, on its settlement?
No. The Board condemned a mayor who took an assigned interest in the contingent fee for the city's litigation while on the city commission, then voted on the settlement; it violated Oklahoma public po…
Could a lawyer who serves as president of a town's board of trustees also be the town's paid attorney in its legal work?
No. The Board concluded that a lawyer serving as president of an incorporated town's board of trustees could not be paid to represent the town as its attorney, because a Oklahoma statute voids any con…
Could a lawyer agree to take stolen jewels as a fee so a felon would reveal their location, planning instead to tip off authorities and return them?
No. The Board concluded a lawyer is never justified in planning to double-cross a person he agrees to serve as a lawyer; preserving client confidence is paramount even to recovering stolen property fo…
May a lawyer refuse to disclose the whereabouts of a client who jumped bail and is living as a fugitive under an assumed name?
No. Adopting an ABA committee opinion, the Board concluded that a lawyer's knowledge of a bail-jumping fugitive client's whereabouts is not privileged, that the lawyer has a duty to disclose it to the…
Could a lawyer write a magazine article on the law under his own name and note that he is a member of the bar?
Yes. The Board concluded a lawyer may properly write an article giving information on the law, here on wills, and may let his name appear as author with a reference to his bar membership, so long as h…
Could a lawyer split collection fees or commissions with a non-lawyer collection agency or law list that forwarded the matter?
The Board concluded no. A 1936 amendment to Rule 36 removed the old forwarder exception and expressly condemned sharing collection commissions between a non-lawyer forwarder and a lawyer receiver.
May a former city attorney who defended the city in nuisance suits over its sewage plant later represent those same plaintiffs suing the city for continuing the same nuisance?
The Board concluded no. Under Rules 38 and 8, a former city attorney could not accept employment against the city in a matter he had passed upon and defended while in office, even for damages arising …
Could a lawyer have a professional card published in a newspaper, even free of charge, without violating the ethics rules?
The Board concluded no. Under amended Rule 29, a lawyer's card could be published only in an approved law list or directory; publishing cards in newspapers, with or without charge, was prohibited.
Is it ethical for a lawyer taking an adverse party's deposition to ask questions he knows are incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial, relying on the officer's inability to exclude the answers?
The Board concluded no. Knowingly eliciting incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial deposition testimony is an abuse of process and unprofessional conduct that could subject the lawyer to discipline.
Could a contingent-fee lawyer hire an accountant whose pay would come only out of the contingent fee, by assigning the accountant a share of that fee?
No. The Board concluded a lawyer on a contingent fee could not pay an accountant solely out of, and by assigning an interest in, the contingent fee; it improperly divides fees with a non-lawyer under …
May a lawyer employed by the State Banking Department as a liquidating agent take a client's case suing the State on relation of the bank commissioner over a different insolvent bank?
The Board concluded yes, but only if the lawyer had not obtained any information about the facts of the proposed suit through his department employment; if he had, accepting the case would be improper…
Can a former judge accept employment as a lawyer in a child-custody matter whose merits he decided while sitting as a judge?
No. The Board concluded a former judge could not represent the grandmother seeking custody of a child where, as a sitting Superior Court judge, he had decided the merits of the same custody controvers…
After a law partner dies, can the surviving partner keep using the firm name to finish the partnership's unfinished business?
The Board concluded the deceased partner's name could be used only for the limited time needed to wind up the former partnership's unfinished business, signed as 'Blank and Blank by Blank (surviving p…
Could a lawyer pay to run a card stating he specializes in insurance litigation in a weekly insurance trade magazine that endorses him to its readers?
No. The Board concluded that a card in a weekly insurance trade magazine circulating among insurance salesmen and claim men was unethical, because the magazine is not a reputable law list and circulat…
Could an Oklahoma lawyer be listed in a law list that bonds its out-of-state listees if his Oklahoma listing was put in a separate, unbonded section?
No. The Board concluded that a list guaranteeing the fidelity of any of its listees through bond is not reputable, so an Oklahoma lawyer could not be listed in it even if the Oklahoma listees were car…
Could lawyers let their business cards run in a newspaper column promoting professional firms to the public?
The Board concluded no. Causing the insertion of lawyer cards in such a newspaper column, or permitting their continued publication, was improper solicitation of business by advertisement under Rule 2…
After leaving the bench, may a former county judge represent a later-appointed estate administrator in an appeal over that administrator's appointment, when the judge earlier admitted the will and appointed the first administrator?
The Board concluded yes. Rule 38 barred a former judge only from matters he had investigated or passed upon while in office; because he never acted on the merits of the last administrator's appointmen…
Under the amended law-list rule, what makes a law list reputable, what may a lawyer's card contain, and must the list get written client consent before listing references?
The Board read amended Rule 45 to mean a reputable law list is one maintained as the subscribers' own instrumentality that serves the profession with fidelity; the card may contain only the enumerated…
Could a lawyer pay to place his card in a legal directory that the publisher distributes to laypeople and businesses likely to need a lawyer?
No. The Board concluded a lawyer who knowingly subscribes to a directory circulated among prospective lay clients is guilty of unprofessional conduct, because such a list solicits business for its law…
Could a lawyer who had defended one co-defendant now defend the other co-defendant, after the first client pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the State?
No. The Board concluded the lawyer could not defend co-defendant 'A' after representing 'B,' who had confided in him and then turned State's witness against 'A'; the duty to preserve a former client's…
Could lawyers who represent some of an estate's creditors also represent an outside claimant suing the receiver, when winning that claim would reduce the creditors' recovery?
The Board concluded it depended on the estate's assets: if the claimant's success would reduce the represented creditors' payment, the lawyers represented conflicting interests under Rule 8 and could …
Could a lawyer have his name placed in a law list that guarantees the fidelity of the listed lawyers through a bond?
No. The Board concluded a lawyer could not properly be listed in a law list that bonds or guarantees its listees' fidelity, because a lawyer may not insure his own fidelity by bond, and a list that do…
Could a lawyer pay a newspaper to publish his photograph and name, labeled as an attorney, in a special anniversary edition?
No. The Board concluded a lawyer could not pay to have his photograph and name, with a designation such as 'lawyer' or 'attorney at law,' published in a newspaper's anniversary edition; the practice w…
Could a lawyer who had represented a company in two pending suits accept employment to sue that same company for a new client?
The Board concluded it depended on confidences: if the lawyer had gained any knowledge of facts affecting the new suit through the prior representation, accepting it was improper; if not, no rule barr…
Could a newly appointed county attorney prosecute an embezzlement case against a person he had already sued and obtained a civil judgment against, while still trying to collect that judgment?
The Board concluded he could not properly conduct the prosecution, because his personal interest in collecting the related civil judgment made the situation too susceptible of misconstruction under Ru…
Could a lawyer mail form letters soliciting taxpayers to hire him for tax-refund claims if the letters never mention that he is an attorney and say no law practice is involved?
The Board concluded no. Mailing the form letters to obtain taxpayers' refund business was solicitation of law practice prohibited by Rule 29, and it made no difference that the letters did not identif…
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Legal ethics opinions from the Oklahoma 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.