Rhode Island Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Panel Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Rhode Island Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Panel, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Can I serve on the board of a law-reform organization when my firm represents a client (a board of elections) that the organization has filed complaints against?
The panel concluded yes. Rule 6.4 lets a lawyer serve as a director, officer, or member of a law-reform organization even though the reform may affect a client's interests; the lawyer need only disclo…
My firm represents both the buyer and the seller as existing clients. Can two lawyers in the firm, with an internal screen, represent each side in the sale of a division of the seller's business?
The panel concluded no. The firm's representation of both current clients in the sale is a direct conflict under Rule 1.7(a)(1) because the sale is adversarial, and a firm is treated as one lawyer, so…
Can I advise and assist clients in Rhode Island's medical marijuana program when the conduct is legal under state law but a federal crime under the Controlled Substances Act?
The panel concluded yes. A lawyer may advise clients about Rhode Island's medical marijuana law and represent, advise, and assist clients in activities relating to and in compliance with that law, pro…
I once drafted powers of attorney for a woman's parents that named her as successor agent, but I never represented her. Can I now represent her husband in their divorce?
The panel concluded there is no conflict. Because the attorney never performed legal work for the wife, she is not a former client owing the attorney no duties; the former clients were her parents, to…
A relative and a nonprofit paid my client's legal fees in advance. The representation ended with a surplus, and both the client and the nonprofit claim it. Who gets the refund of the excess fees?
The panel concluded the third-party payor, not the client, is entitled to the refund of excess fees at the end of the representation, unless the fee agreements specify otherwise. Because a refund retu…
May my law firm email other Rhode Island lawyers, using publicly listed bar email addresses, to ask them to refer clients to us in our practice areas?
The panel concluded yes. Because the emails go only to other lawyers, they are neither prohibited solicitations under Rule 7.3 nor advertisements under Rule 7.2, so the firm may send them, subject to …
A prospective client told me useful information about my existing client's judgment debtor before I declined the new matter for conflict reasons. May I pass that information to my existing client so it can resume collection?
The panel concluded no. Under Rule 1.18(b), a lawyer who has consulted with a prospective client may not use or reveal information learned in the consultation except as Rule 1.9 would permit for a for…
I want to bring a nonlawyer (a law-school graduate) into my compliance practice to run audits and training as an independent contractor, not an employee. What ethics rules apply?
The panel concluded the arrangement is governed by Rule 5.4 and Rule 5.3. Rule 5.4 bars sharing legal fees or forming a law-practice partnership with the nonlawyer, so the nonlawyer's pay cannot be ti…
I jointly represented a husband and wife in immigration matters, and now that they have separated the wife wants me to withhold from the husband a visa petition she filed for him. Must I honor that request?
The panel concluded no. Because the representation was a joint representation, each client is entitled to the file, and the client's file is property the client must receive under Rule 1.15(d). Confid…
I sit part-time as a municipal court judge for a city, and I also run a law firm. Can lawyers in my firm represent my son in a Superior Court lawsuit against that same city?
The panel concluded it is not a conflict under Rule 1.11 or Rule 1.7 for the part-time municipal judge's firm to represent the judge's son against the city. The judge did not participate personally an…
I recently left a job as an assistant city solicitor for private practice. Can I now represent private clients before the same city boards, agencies, and courts where I appeared for the city?
The panel concluded the former city solicitor and his or her firm are governed by Rule 1.11. The lawyer may not represent a private client in any matter in which he or she participated personally and …
My firm has been hired to defend an insured, but the plaintiff's lawyer works at a firm my firm currently represents in an unrelated matter. Is that a conflict of interest?
The panel concluded there is no automatic conflict. The attorney and firm must make a good-faith evaluation under Rule 1.7(a)(2) of whether the concurrent representation creates a significant risk tha…
My marketing agency wants me to use the slogan 'Win with [my last name]' and a variant, 'When you want to win, call [my last name],' across internet, TV, radio, and billboard ads. Would that be false or misleading advertising under the rules?
No. The panel held the proposed rhyming slogans are permissible under Rule 7.1 because there is no substantial likelihood that a reasonable member of the public would conclude from them that the attor…
I'm an assistant solicitor who advised the planning board that denied a project, and the board of appeals (which special counsel advised) upheld that denial. The applicant is now appealing both decisions to Superior Court and wants me disqualified. Can I defend the municipality, the planning board, and the board of appeals together?
Yes. The panel held Rule 1.7 permits the inquiring attorney, an assistant solicitor, to represent the municipality, its planning board, and its planning board of appeals in the applicant's Superior Co…
I'm a part-time prosecutor for City A one day a week, and my private criminal-defense practice wants to take on a client charged with a misdemeanor by City B's police, heard in the same district court division as City A's cases. Is that a conflict?
No, not per se. The panel held Rule 1.7 does not automatically bar the inquiring attorney, a part-time prosecutor for City A, from representing a criminal defendant charged by City B even though both …
I represented my client's attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney for an elderly principal. The power of attorney ended and a guardian was appointed for the principal. Can I give the guardian copies of my file from representing the attorney-in-fact?
Yes. The panel held Rule 1.6 permits the inquiring attorney to comply with the guardian's request for copies of documents relating to the representation of the former attorney-in-fact, because that re…
My client, an estate administrator, told me she used estate funds to pay her own medical bills and plans to pay it back but can't prove she can. I'm preparing the final accounting. Do I have to tell the probate court?
No, and you cannot. The panel held the administrator's disclosure that estate funds were diverted is a confidential communication protected by Rule 1.6, and the attorney is not permitted to reveal it …
I'm certified as an elder law attorney by an ABA-accredited organization. Can I put 'Certified Elder Law Attorney' on my letterhead?
Yes, with conditions. The panel held Rule 7.4 permits the inquiring attorney to include the designation 'Certified Elder Law Attorney' on letterhead, but requires identifying the National Elder Law Fo…
My law partner wants to become counsel for the municipal pension board, but I represent union members who are suing the municipality over how the board calculates their disability benefits. Is that a conflict for the firm?
Yes. The panel held that a lawyer's proposed representation of a municipality's pension board presents a concurrent conflict of interest under Rule 1.7 where another lawyer in the same firm represents…
I'm holding an escrow fund that unit owners contributed for a deck repair, but the client no longer wants the deck, the condo association wants the money, and the special assessment was rescinded. Who do I pay?
The panel held Rule 1.15(e) requires the attorney to protect the disputed escrow funds by keeping them in the account until the dispute over entitlement is resolved, and does not obligate the attorney…
A police department's internal investigator wants me to answer questions about my former client, a police officer, and is threatening to draw adverse inferences and call me as a witness if I refuse. Do I have to talk to the investigator?
No. The panel held Rule 1.6 prohibits the inquiring attorney from disclosing information relating to the representation of the police officer to the department's investigator absent the client's conse…
My deceased client's daughter is challenging a trust amendment I drafted that left the house to someone else instead of her, and now her lawyer and the successor trustee (her) are contacting me. What are my obligations if I'm deposed or called at trial?
The panel held the attorney must assert both the Rule 1.6 duty of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege if contacted by successor counsel or the trustee, or if called as a witness, and can…
I'm on the city council, and an acquaintance wants me to represent his two sons on charges the city police brought against them. Can I take the case even though the city council appoints the solicitor who normally prosecutes these matters?
Yes, with conditions. The panel held a concurrent conflict exists under Rule 1.7(a)(2) because the representation could be materially limited by the attorney's responsibilities as a council member, bu…
Some nonlawyers want to start a consulting firm and have me run its 'legal department,' splitting my fees with the firm and letting it cover my overhead and advertising. Is there any way to structure this so it's ethical?
No. The panel held the proposed arrangement violates Rule 5.4 (fee-sharing with nonlawyers, partnering with nonlawyers to practice law, and practicing law in a firm in which nonlawyers hold an ownersh…
I'm suing a club on behalf of a member, and I found a list of other members in the same situation through discovery. Can I write to them for information about the club's practices without triggering the lawyer-advertising solicitation rules?
It depends on what the letter says. The panel held the inquiring attorney may send a letter to Golf Club members seeking information about the client's case without complying with Rule 7.3, but the sp…
Can I pay my paralegal a bonus based partly on how many cases they help settle and how much in fees those cases generate?
No. The panel held that basing a nonlawyer claims adjuster/paralegal's quarterly bonus on the number of cases the employee assists in settling and on the attorney's fees generated by those cases is a …
My client is indigent, has moved out of state, and can't afford to travel back for court dates in her D.C.Y.F. and divorce cases. Can I pay for her transportation without violating the rules on giving clients money?
Yes, if the client is indigent. The panel held that Rule 1.8(e) permits the inquiring attorney to pay an indigent out-of-state client's transportation costs to attend court hearings in her D.C.Y.F. ma…
I used to supervise other legal-services attorneys, and now that I'm in private practice, am I automatically conflicted out of any case involving a client one of my former subordinates once represented?
Not automatically. The panel held Rule 1.9(b) bars representing a person in the same or a substantially related matter in which a supervised attorney represented a materially adverse client only where…
My client signed an assignment to a medical provider, and the provider now wants over $9,000 out of the settlement, but the money isn't enough to cover everyone. What am I required to do with the funds?
The panel held Rule 1.15 requires the attorney to notify the provider that he or she holds the client's settlement funds; if the client consents, the attorney may pay the provider an agreed amount, bu…
My client can't afford to pay me, so I want to take a mortgage on the very property he's trying to win through an adverse possession claim as my contingent fee. Is that allowed?
Yes, subject to conditions. The panel held Rule 1.8(i)'s exception for reasonable contingent fees permits the inquiring attorney to take a mortgage on the property that is the subject of the client's …
My law partner sits on the city council, and I sit on one of the city's advisory commissions. Am I barred from representing clients before the city's boards, commissions, law department, probate court, or the city council itself?
No, not automatically. The panel held the inquiring attorney is not per se prohibited from representing clients before the municipality's boards, commissions, law department, probate court, or the cit…
A predecessor in-house lawyer represented both our company and a manager who was accused of harassment. That manager is now a former employee, and my notes from a meeting with him contain his account of events. Can I hand those notes to the outside lawyer defending the company in the related lawsuit?
No, not without the former client's consent. The panel held that because the manager was the inquiring attorney's former client (a predecessor in-house lawyer had entered an appearance for both the co…
I want to talk to a former employee of the corporation I'm suing, who has personal knowledge about the facts and might become my expert witness. Do I need the defendant's lawyer to sign off first?
No. The panel held Rule 4.2 permits a lawyer to communicate ex parte with a former employee of an adverse corporate party, without the consent of opposing counsel, because Rule 4.2's bar on contacting…
I filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for my client's mother, and now the client wants me to file his own Chapter 7, but the trustee might try to unwind a property transfer he made to his mother. Is representing him a conflict because of my prior work for her?
No. The panel held it is not a Rule 1.9 conflict to represent the son in his own bankruptcy even though a property interest of the mother, a former client, could be affected, because the son's bankrup…
A title insurance company I'm an approved attorney for wants unconditional access to my IOLTA account and client files for its audits. Can I give it that access without asking my clients?
No, not for everything. The panel held that a title insurer's unlimited audit access to a lawyer's client files and IOLTA account records, without the affected clients' express or implied consent, vio…
My firm has an old real estate escrow account that hasn't been touched since 2008, and we're not sure how much of the $122,000 in it is ours versus clients' or third parties'. Can we just close it out and move the money?
No. The panel held the firm must keep the entire amount in an IOLTA account until it determines which funds belong to the firm and which belong to others, disbursing only the portions whose ownership …
I deposed a former employee of the defendant corporation, and she had her own lawyer at the deposition. Can I meet with her ex parte now, without going through that lawyer?
No. The panel held that because the former employee was represented by counsel at her deposition in the lawsuit, Rule 4.2 requires the inquiring attorney to get that lawyer's consent before communicat…
One of my clients told me not to pay a third party out of his settlement funds, but the third party says she's owed money out of those same funds. What do I do with the money, and can I keep representing both people?
The panel held the attorney must hold the disputed amount in trust (or pay it into the court registry and let a court decide) rather than side with either party, and that continuing to represent both …
I'm calling the testator's treating physician as both a fact witness and an expert on competency in a will contest. Can I pay the physician for the expert testimony?
Yes. The panel held that compensating a treating physician for expert opinion testimony is not a prohibited inducement to a witness under Rule 3.4(b), even where the same physician will also give fact…
I used to handle enforcement and cleanup litigation against a contaminated property's owners and operators while working for a state agency. Can I now represent someone who wants to buy that same property?
Yes, on these facts. The panel held that representing the DEM in enforcement, court, and bankruptcy proceedings against the former owners and operators over contamination is not the same 'matter' unde…
I represent two clients in separate divorces. One client's spouse alleges the two clients had an affair and wants to depose the other client. Can I keep representing both at that deposition?
Yes, on these facts. The panel held there is no Rule 1.7 conflict in representing both clients at the deposition, because both deny the alleged affair, their interests are not adverse and may be align…
I represented two co-insureds in a case and it's over. One wants the file, the other wants me to keep it, and the insurer wants me to keep it too. Who gets the file and who pays for copies or shipping?
Both joint clients are entitled to the file. The panel held the lawyer's obligation under Rule 1.16(d) is satisfied by giving one client the original and the other a copy, that the lawyer may not char…
I represent my municipality in labor and personnel matters. Can I take on a case against the municipality's school department for a different client?
No, not without the municipality's consent. The panel held that the school department is part of the same client the attorney already represents, so suing it on behalf of new clients creates a concurr…
My law partner used to work at the firm defending the other side in a case I've now been asked to try for the plaintiff, and my partner deposed the plaintiff back then (though wasn't lead counsel). Can I take the case?
Yes, under Rule 1.10(c). The panel held the law partner has a disqualifying Rule 1.9(a) conflict from deposing the plaintiff on behalf of the defendant at the former firm, but the inquiring attorney m…
I'm a full-time municipal zoning official (not a lawyer role) who also runs a part-time solo land-use practice. Can I put 'J.D.' on town paperwork, keep my private practice in that same town, share office space with a real estate developer who deals with me officially, and represent that developer's real estate matters in other towns?
Yes to all four, according to the panel, subject to observing the ordinary confidentiality, conflicts, and office-sharing disclosure rules, and subject to whatever the municipality's own rules, regula…
My new client's estranged wife sat in on our five-minute initial meeting where he handed over his file, but I never spoke with her, advised her, or took her on. Does her presence at that meeting create a conflict that blocks me from representing him at his deportation hearing?
No. The panel held that the estranged wife's mere attendance at the initial consultation did not make her a client or a prospective client under Rule 1.18, so it does not create a Rule 1.7(a) conflict…
In a medical malpractice case, can I run a newspaper ad asking the defendant physician's other patients to contact me about whether they filled out a patient-history questionnaire, without complying with the lawyer-advertising rules?
Yes. The panel held that a newspaper advertisement seeking factual information from other patients about the physician's use of patient-history questionnaires is neither a solicitation of professional…
A group of lawyers and mental health professionals want to form a not-for-profit together offering psychological services, co-parenting mediation, and guardian ad litem representation in family cases. Does Rule 5.4 allow this?
No. The panel held that serving as a guardian ad litem is the practice of law, and a multidisciplinary business combining that practice with mental-health and mediation services provided jointly with …
I represent clients in a real estate lawsuit against a couple. Separately, I'm being asked to represent other individuals who may end up bringing a class action over legislation, and that couple would be unnamed members of that class. Is that a conflict?
No. The panel held it is not a Rule 1.7 conflict of interest to represent individuals who may become plaintiffs in an eventual class action where two unnamed members of that class are adverse parties …
I was a part-time assistant solicitor prosecuting misdemeanors and housing matters for a municipality. Now that I'm in private practice, can I represent people the municipality's police department charges, or people cited in housing court?
Yes, generally. The panel held the attorney may represent clients before the municipal court on housing matters and clients charged by the municipality's police department, provided the specific matte…
I have a medical-payment check for my former client, but she won't endorse it, her new lawyer wants me to forward it, and the chiropractor who has a lien wants me to hold it. What do I do with the check?
Hold it or interplead. The panel held that under Rule 1.15(d) and (e), where a client and a third-party lienholder both claim an interest in the same funds and the client has not consented to payment …
My client, who was insured through the carrier that retained me, is giving an account of the accident that's flatly contradicted by the police report and eyewitnesses. Do I have to withdraw?
It depends on what the lawyer actually knows. The panel held that Rule 1.16(a) requires mandatory withdrawal only if the lawyer knows the client is lying in furtherance of a fraudulent claim; if the l…
I'm a sole practitioner and I also volunteer as a court mediator. Can I rename my firm 'Smith Law and Mediation' to promote both services?
No. The panel held that including 'Mediation' in a law firm name is misleading under Rule 7.1 because it implies the lawyer's private mediation practice is regulated by the Rhode Island Supreme Court …
I run a marketing company on the side that serves doctors, chiropractors, mortgage brokers, and real estate agents. I've referred law clients to some of these same professionals for years. Now that they're becoming marketing-company clients, is it a conflict of interest for me to keep referring my law clients to them?
No, according to this opinion, at least where the lawyer has only an indirect financial interest (as the professionals' marketing services provider) rather than a direct financial interest in their bu…
I'm licensed in both Rhode Island and New York. As a former general counsel to a New York nonprofit, I made representations to a New York regulator that I now believe are no longer true. Which state's ethics rules govern whether I can disclose this to the regulator?
New York's, according to this opinion. Under the choice-of-law provision of Rhode Island Rule 8.5(b), the ethics rules of the jurisdiction where the lawyer's conduct occurs, or where the predominant e…
I used to run labor relations for a state agency and now I'm in private practice. A former coworker facing termination wants me to represent him against the agency. The agency's lawyers say I have a conflict. Do I?
Not necessarily. The panel held that Rule 1.11, not Rule 1.9, governs, and a former government lawyer is disqualified from a matter only if he or she participated personally and substantially in that …
I represented a corporate client on zoning approvals for a development in one town back in 2005, and the matter is long over. The company later interviewed me (but hired someone else) for a new development in a different town, and now neighbors opposing that new project want me to represent them against the company. Is that a conflict?
No. The panel held that representing individuals who oppose a former corporate client's real estate development in a different town, after formerly representing the client in unrelated zoning matters …
I'm representing a terminated state-agency hearing officer in an employment dispute against the agency. I also represent a corporate client seeking a contested license from that same agency. The agency's lawyers say I have a conflict and must withdraw from all matters there. Do I?
No. The panel held the concurrent representations do not present a Rule 1.7 conflict because the corporate client's license matter is not directly adverse to the terminated hearing officer, and there …
My client received a Social Security lump-sum payment that I believe was miscalculated and overpaid by about $12,000. The client won't report it, and I still need to file a fee petition with the ALJ to get my percentage of the retroactive benefits. What do I have to do?
If you cannot convince the client to notify SSA of the error, Rule 3.3 requires you to advise the ALJ that you believe the retroactive benefit was miscalculated and to request confirmation or recalcul…
I advanced a medical expert's fee on my client's behalf and billed the client, who hasn't paid. My fee agreement lets me charge interest on overdue amounts. Can I charge the client interest on the unpaid expert fee?
Yes. The panel held the Rules of Professional Conduct do not prohibit charging the client interest on the unpaid expert's fee, provided the attorney complies with the laws governing the charging of in…
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Legal ethics opinions from the Rhode Island Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Panel 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.