Oregon State Bar Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Oregon State Bar, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Can an Oregon lawyer use a chatbot or AI agent for client intake and marketing on their website?
Yes, with conditions. The opinion concludes Oregon lawyers may use chatbots and AI agents for intake and marketing if they stay competent in the tool, supervise it, disclaim it is not a lawyer, avoid …
Can an Oregon lawyer use a client's name or matter in marketing, a CLE, or to confirm a public news story without consent?
Generally no without informed consent. The opinion concludes information relating to a representation is broadly protected under Oregon RPC 1.6; Oregon has no generally-known exception, and the advert…
Can an Oregon lawyer mail flyers and cold-call or email potential clients to solicit them for a lawsuit?
The opinion concludes a lawyer may mail truthful flyers to potential clients and may make a first cold call, but may not solicit a person who has told the lawyer not to contact them again; emailing th…
Can a lawyer accept client referrals from friends and clients and send them a small thank-you gift without it counting as paying for referrals?
The opinion concludes a lawyer may accept such referrals and may give nominal thank-you gifts, as long as the gifts are tokens of appreciation and not payment given in exchange for or in consideration…
Can an Oregon lawyer write a newspaper legal column, answer readers' legal questions, and speak to community groups about the law?
Yes, qualified. The opinion concludes a lawyer may write a legal column, answer readers' questions, appear on radio or television, and speak to groups, provided the communications are not false or mis…
Can an Oregon lawyer agree to send clients to a nonlawyer business in exchange for that business referring customers back to the lawyer?
No. The opinion concludes a reciprocal client-referral arrangement with a nonlawyer business violates Oregon RPC 7.2 and 5.4(e), but a plain office-sharing arrangement with a nonlawyer that involves n…
Can a lawyer join a business-networking club that requires members to exchange referrals as a condition of membership?
No. The opinion concludes a lawyer may not participate in a networking association whose purpose and membership condition is the reciprocal exchange of business referrals, because a referral is a thin…
Can a law firm market its services by paying to appear in a community welcoming program's profile book and by offering discounts through a health club's member-benefits program?
Yes to the welcoming program, because printed, truthful advertising is allowed under RPC 7.2(a) and 7.1. Yes, qualified, to the health club program: because the firm effectively gives the club a valua…
Can a lawyer take part in a church-organized prepaid legal plan for its members, and contact non-members in person at the church's request to support the church's causes?
The opinion concludes a lawyer may join a statute-compliant prepaid plan paid for by a church and may solicit non-members the church identifies, as long as the church does not direct the lawyer's prof…
Can an Oregon lawyer send thank-you cards to clients and referral sources, or host an open house for clients and nonclients?
Yes, qualified. The opinion concludes thank-you cards to clients and referral sources are constitutionally protected and need not be treated as advertising, and a lawyer may host an open house but mus…
Can an Oregon lawyer own and run a for-profit lawyer-referral service, and can that service give legal advice while screening callers?
A lawyer may own and manage a for-profit lawyer-referral service, qualified: the service must not practice law or help the lawyer-owner violate the rules, and the owner should avoid personally screeni…
Can a law firm keep a retired partner's name in the firm name and list the retired partner on letterhead as a mediator, and can that partner consult for the firm without malpractice-fund coverage?
Yes. The opinion concludes a firm may keep a retired former partner's name in the firm name and list the partner as available solely as a mediator if true and not misleading; the partner may also cons…
Can lawyers employed by an insurance company present themselves on letterhead as a law firm without disclosing that they work for the insurer?
No. The opinion concludes that for staff lawyers employed by an insurer to defend insureds, using a firm-style name on letterhead or pleadings without disclosing their status as insurer employees is f…
Can an Oregon law firm and an out-of-state firm list each other as an 'Associated Office' on their letterhead?
Yes. An Oregon firm may list a Washington firm it works with as an 'Associated Office,' and may let the Washington firm do the same, because the designation is not false or misleading under RPC 7.1 an…
Can a lawyer who runs a family-mediation practice advertise in the 'Counselors' section of the Yellow Pages as well as the 'Attorneys' section?
Qualified yes: a lawyer may run a separate counseling or mediation business and may advertise it, or advertise as a lawyer in the Counselor section, so long as the advertisement is not false or mislea…
Can a part-time judge's or legislator's private law office answer the phone as 'Judge ___'s office' or 'Senator ___'s office'?
No. The opinion concludes that answering a private law office's public phone by referring to the lawyer's judicial or legislative title is a false or misleading communication and improperly implies an…
Can a lawyer list nonlawyer staff, such as an office manager or legal assistant, by name and title on the firm's letterhead?
The opinion concludes a lawyer may list nonlawyer personnel and their positions on firm letterhead as long as the listing is not false or misleading, for example by implying the staff are lawyers.
Can lawyers who only share office space call themselves associates, of counsel, or practice under a joint firm name?
No. The opinion concludes that lawyers who merely share office space but keep separate practices may not hold themselves out as associates, as of counsel to each other, or under a joint firm name, bec…
Can a multistate law firm advertise to its Oregon clients that lawyers who are not Oregon State Bar members are available?
Qualified yes: multistate firms are permitted and may advertise the availability of out-of-state lawyers, who can perform the cross-border activities RPC 5.5(c) and (d) allow, but the firm may not sta…
Can a lawyer appear in advertising for an outside business, like a bank board the lawyer sits on?
Yes. The opinion concludes a lawyer who sits on a bank's board may let the bank use the lawyer's photograph in its advertisements, absent some reason to believe the photos would be used in a false or …
Can a lawyer produce and sell general legal-information audio or video recordings to the public with non-lawyer partners, and put the lawyer's name and practice area on them?
Yes: producing and marketing general legal-information tapes is not the practice of law, so RPC 5.5 and 5.4 do not bar the lawyer from joining with non-lawyers or sharing profits, and the lawyer may l…
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Legal ethics opinions from the Oregon State Bar 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.