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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As a former city solicitor, can I sue that city for a former employee on a matter I never handled? And can I represent a different city while my of-counsel affiliate is that city's solicitor and I have clients suing that city?
The panel concluded that the former solicitor could represent the employee against City A, because the lawyer did not participate in the matter as solicitor under Rule 1.11(a) and it was not substanti…
I want to run a separate import-export and resort business out of my law office, staffed by my firm's office manager and paralegal, and some people may be clients of both. Is that allowed?
The panel concluded that the arrangement is permissible provided the lawyer and the firm's employees adhere to the Rules of Professional Conduct, particularly those on client confidentiality, conflict…
For years, a colleague at my firm defended B for B's insurer while I pursued A's indemnity claim against B. B's case has settled and I've now sued B for A. B says I have a conflict. Can I continue?
The panel concluded that the lawyer was precluded under Rule 1.7(b) from continuing to represent A and advised withdrawal, because the firm had concurrently represented A and B, adverse parties, witho…
I'm suing Jones Company for my client. A colleague at my firm, unaware of my case, represented a bank lending to Jones and got Jones's financials. Do I have to withdraw?
The panel concluded there was no conflict of interest requiring withdrawal, because the firm colleague represented the lender rather than Jones Company and the representation of the client was not mat…
My partner previously advised municipal investigators while he worked at the attorney general's office. Our firm now has a municipal review that covers that investigation. Can I keep the matter if my partner is screened?
The Panel concluded the inquiring attorney may continue to represent the municipality if he complies with Rule 1.11(a)'s screening and notice requirements as to his partner; the partner, having person…
I am a lawyer and also the real estate broker for a client. May I serve as the attorney for a buyer or seller in a real estate transaction in which I am also that person's broker?
The Panel concluded the Rules of Professional Conduct do not permit a lawyer to serve as the attorney for a buyer or seller in a real estate transaction in which the lawyer is also that individual's r…
I do estate planning and just got licensed to sell life, accident, and health insurance. May I sell insurance to my law clients, and may I provide estate planning to my insurance customers?
The Panel concluded the attorney may not sell insurance to estate planning law clients and may not provide estate planning legal services to insurance customers, because a nonwaivable conflict under R…
I am going through my own divorce, and I just learned that opposing counsel in my client's divorce is the same lawyer representing my spouse against me. Does my personal interest materially limit my representation under Rule 1.7(b)?
The Panel concluded that under Rule 1.7(b), if the attorney reasonably believes the representation will not be adversely affected by his or her own interest and obtains the client's consent after full…
I represent the wife in an uncontested divorce, and the pro se husband keeps asking me for help. What can I do for him, if anything, without a conflict under Rule 1.7?
The Panel concluded the attorney may give the husband the standard DR-6A financial statement form and may draft a property settlement agreement on the client's behalf so long as no legal advice is ren…
I once prepared wills for the Mayor and his family, and the Mayor appoints the planning board. Can I now represent a client before the town's planning and zoning boards on permits and variances under Rule 1.9?
The Panel concluded the attorney may represent the current client before the town's planning and zoning boards because the permit and variance matters are not the same or substantially related to the …
I once represented a corporation in a claim, and my associate handled its collection cases years ago. Now a different former employee wants me to sue that corporation for age discrimination. Does Rule 1.9 permit it?
The Panel concluded the attorney may represent the former employee against the corporation because the prior collection matters are not the same or substantially related to the age discrimination case…
If I win a seat on the town council, may I still appear before the town's Probate and Municipal Courts and Planning and Zoning staff, and represent criminal clients in cases involving the town's police, during my term?
The Panel concluded no in either case: applying Rule 1.11's rationale by analogy to concurrent government service, the council member may not appear before the town's courts or Planning and Zoning sta…
I once handled a divorce for someone, with no contact since. Now that former client is suing my current client, a furniture company, over defective goods. Does Rule 1.9 let me defend the furniture company?
The Panel concluded the attorney may represent the current client because the former client's domestic relations matter is not the same or substantially related to the defective-goods lawsuit, subject…
My firm represents a union, and my father is a city supervisor who sits on a trial board that decides disciplinary complaints against union members. Can we represent union members in that city despite my father's role?
The Panel concluded, applying Rule 1.8(i) by analogy, that the attorney may represent the union in all matters except those in which the father is or may be involved, and cautioned the firm to avoid e…
At my old firm I represented a client in salvage claims. My new firm wants me to defend insurance companies against that same client in unrelated matters. Does Rule 1.9 permit it, and can the client disqualify me?
The Panel concluded the attorney may represent the defense insurance companies against the former client in matters not related to the former salvage representation, subject to the continuing duty und…
I represent several co-defendants, and one privately told me she violated a court order by taking the disputed funds (then replaced them on my advice). Must I disclose that under Rule 1.6, and does it create a conflict under Rule 1.7?
The Panel concluded the attorney may not disclose the co-defendant's admission because it is protected by Rule 1.6, and that if the attorney comes to believe a conflict has arisen among the co-defenda…
I drafted a joint estate plan for a husband and wife. Years later the wife, now divorcing, wants me to redesign her estate to exclude the husband. Does Rule 1.9 let me do that without the husband's consent?
The Panel concluded that if the wife's estate modification becomes materially adverse to the husband and the attorney obtained confidential information in the original joint representation that is rel…
A long-standing client wants me to bring a personal injury claim against someone I represented in a divorce fourteen years ago. Does Rule 1.9 let me take the case against my former client?
The Panel concluded that the attorney may represent the current client in the personal injury matter because it is not the same or substantially related to the former client's divorce action, but may …
My spouse works in a supervisory role for a company that I am about to sue on behalf of one of its employees. Is that a conflict of interest under Rules 1.7, 1.8, or 1.9?
The Panel concluded there is no conflict of interest, because the conflict rules are concerned with conflicts between two clients, and representing the employee is not adverse to another client of the…
I represented a client who sold land to a real estate trust years ago and has been paid in full with no pending matters. The same investor group owns a second, unrelated trust. Can I buy an interest in either trust under Rule 1.8?
Yes. The panel held that because the attorney would not be entering into a business relationship with a client or a relationship adverse to a client, Rule 1.8's prohibited-transactions rule does not a…
A staff attorney at my agency gave a friend free advice in a custody case. The agency now represents the friend's opponent. Can another staff attorney represent the friend?
The panel concluded that no member of the agency's staff may undertake the representation, because the informal advice created an attorney-client relationship, making the friend a client whose interes…
I prepared a living will for a husband and an estate package for his wife. Now the wife wants to amend her trust to cut out his daughter and not tell him. Can I do it under Rule 1.9?
The panel concluded that the lawyer may amend the wife's estate plan without violating Rule 1.9, because preparing the husband's living will was not a substantially related matter and the amendment is…
I'm a state child-support agency lawyer. I represent the state for one parent and, for a fee, a second parent, both owed support by the same father whose injury settlement can't cover both. Can I keep representing the second parent?
The panel concluded that because a single personal-injury settlement had to be apportioned between the state and the non-welfare parent, the two representations became directly adverse under Rule 1.7(…
I represent two clients in separate divorces. They are romantically involved and each could be a witness in the other's case. Can I keep representing both at the same time?
The panel concluded that Rule 1.7(a) did not bar the joint representation because the two divorces were not directly adverse, and that under Rule 1.7(b) the lawyer may continue to represent both clien…
I served as a state-appointed mediator between a school committee and a teachers' union. Can I now represent a committee member in an unrelated lawsuit against the former superintendent?
The panel concluded that because the lawyer had served only as an impartial mediator and had not represented either the school committee or the teachers' group, representing the committee member in th…
My firm once handled a defendant's misdemeanor and domestic cases. Can I now represent plaintiffs suing him for property damage, an unrelated matter, if everyone consents?
The panel concluded that, under Rule 1.9, if the attorney reasonably believes the current property-damage matter is not the same as or substantially related to the firm's prior misdemeanor and domesti…
I handled real estate closings for a married couple. Now I'm representing the husband in their divorce. Do I have to withdraw because the wife is a former client?
The panel gave a fact-specific answer under Rule 1.9: the wife is a former client, and if the attorney obtained information in the closings that would be helpful in the divorce, the matters could be s…
I once represented a man who later married someone now suing my client for age discrimination. Can I represent my client against that spouse, or is it a conflict?
The panel concluded there is no conflict, because the spouse was never the attorney's client and does not become a client or former client merely by marrying a former client; the only clients are the …
I used to work at a state agency that was investigating someone my firm now represents. Can I work on that client's criminal and civil matters, or must I be screened?
The panel concluded that the former government lawyer may not personally represent the client in either the criminal or the related civil matter under Rule 1.11(a), because the lawyer participated in …
My partner drafted a will for a woman 13 years ago. Can I keep representing my client in a lawsuit against that woman now, or is she a former client I can't oppose?
The panel concluded that the attorney may continue the representation, because preparing the mother-in-law's will years earlier is not the same as or substantially related to her current action, so Ru…
I'm defending a criminal case, and the prosecution may call a woman I represented in a 1984 divorce as a witness. Is that a conflict of interest?
The panel concluded there is no conflict, because Rule 1.9 bars a lawyer from opposing a former client only in the same or a substantially related matter, and a 1984 domestic-relations representation …
My firm does lender work and I want to add closings representing both lender and borrower with consent. What if I later have to foreclose for a lender against a borrower I represented on the purchase?
The panel advised the lawyer to follow the criteria of Rule 2.2 for acting as an intermediary between clients, and held that if and when a conflict arises between lender and borrower, the lawyer must …
I'm representing a husband in his divorce, and his current wife says I represented her in a divorce years ago. She objects. Can I stay in the case?
The panel concluded that the prior and current divorces were substantially related and the wife's interests were materially adverse to the husband's, so under Rule 1.9 the attorney may not continue re…
I represent a corporation and gave one 50% shareholder some general advice. He left and kept his stock. Can I keep representing the company and the other shareholder in buying him out?
The panel concluded that under Rule 1.13(e) the lawyer may continue to represent the corporation and Stockholder B in the buyout, but subject to Rule 1.7 the lawyer must obtain Stockholder A's consent…
I'm a part-time lawyer and also a town's full-time police officer and prosecutor. Can I defend criminal defendants and practice in the Administrative Adjudication Court?
The panel concluded that the lawyer may represent criminal defendants so long as neither responsibilities to other clients nor the lawyer's own interests materially limit the representation under Rule…
I'm a solo lawyer who was appointed a city's probate judge. Can I represent private clients before that same city's zoning board on unrelated matters?
The panel could not address the judge's conduct under the Canons of Judicial Ethics because that is outside its jurisdiction; as to the lawyer's conduct it applied Rule 1.7(b) and questioned whether t…
I'm a solo lawyer who was appointed clerk (and sometimes acting judge) of a town's probate court. Can I still appear before that town's boards and agencies for private clients?
The panel did not give a flat answer but flagged Rule 1.7(b): the representation may be materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to, and interests in, the municipal employer, and it questio…
My law partner drafted the deed and closing documents for a property Owner in a sale, and I represent the other side in a breach-of-contract suit against that Owner. Do Rules 1.9 and 1.10 require me to withdraw?
The Panel concluded that because the law partner had undertaken to represent the Owner, Rule 1.10 imputed that representation to the inquiring attorney, who could not continue in the substantially rel…
Two nonprofit legal services agencies are merging into one entity. After the merger, how do the combined agency's conflict-of-interest duties under Rules 1.7, 1.9, and 1.10 apply to clients who were previously with the separate agencies?
The Panel advised that after the merger the combined agency must review its caseload for conflicts: where current clients' interests are directly adverse it needs each client's consent after consultat…
Can I keep representing my client at a deposition where the witness being deposed is another current client of mine in an unrelated matter?
The panel concluded that the lawyer may continue representing Client #2 and attend Client #1's deposition, but only if the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will not adversely affect the r…
I concluded my client needed a guardian and nursing-home placement, and the client then fired me. May I be appointed guardian of the person of that former client, with an associate drafting the paperwork?
The Panel concluded that because the guardianship is substantially related to the representation and the former client refused consent, Rule 1.9 bars the inquiring attorney from serving as guardian, a…
A lawyer switched firms and my opponent moved to disqualify the new firm, claiming a substantial relationship to the old firm's matter. If that lawyer had no actual knowledge of the client, is the firm disqualified under Rule 1.10?
The Panel concluded that, whether or not the matters are substantially related, the incoming lawyer and the new firm are not imputedly disqualified under Rules 1.9 and 1.10 because the lawyer has no a…
I represented a student against two schools. Now one of those schools wants me to sue the other in a related matter, and to run training workshops for the other school's staff. Can I take on that new work under Rule 1.7?
The Panel concluded that the attorney may not represent the school against the school department in the substantially related matter unless the former student client consents after consultation, and m…
My partners and I left our old firm to start a new one. A new client wants us to sue a client our old firm handled, in an unrelated matter we had no confidential knowledge of. Can our new firm take it under Rules 1.9 and 1.10?
The Panel concluded that because the new matter is unrelated to the old firm's work for the former client and the lawyers acquired no actual knowledge of protected information, the new firm may repres…
My new client is criminally charged with breaking into the home of someone I represented years ago in unrelated matters. Does Rule 1.9 bar me from defending the criminal case?
The Panel concluded that the criminal charge is not the same or substantially related to the earlier unrelated representations of the complaining witness, so the attorney may represent the criminal de…
I am an assistant town solicitor prosecuting misdemeanors for one town. Can I take the same prosecutor role for a second town, when both towns' cases are scheduled the same day, under Rule 1.7?
The Panel concluded that prosecuting for the second town does not violate the Rules because the towns' representations are not directly adverse, and suggested obtaining each client's consent after con…
My client sold the disputed house to a buyer with an addendum about the pending suit, then fired me. Do I have a client relationship with the buyer, and can I represent either of them under Rule 1.9?
The Panel concluded the attorney has an attorney-client relationship only with the seller, not the buyer; because the seller is now a former client, the attorney needs the seller's consent to represen…
I may have to testify about a witness's inconsistent statements in my client's case. Must I withdraw, or can I keep working on the matter short of trial under Rule 3.7?
The Panel concluded that while Rule 3.7(a) bars a likely-necessary-witness lawyer from acting as trial advocate, it does not bar the representation entirely; the attorney may continue in negotiations …
My spouse is a clerk in the Bankruptcy Court with ministerial duties. If I am appointed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee, does that create a conflict of interest under Rule 1.7?
The Panel concluded that, on these facts and consistent with Rule 1.7(b) and its prior opinions, the attorney's appointment as a local bankruptcy trustee would not give rise to a conflict under the Ru…
I handled a client's first divorce. Now that client's new spouse wants to hire me for a divorce against my former client. Can I take that case under Rule 1.9?
The Panel concluded that under Rule 1.9 the attorney may not represent the new spouse against the former client unless the former client consents after consultation, and regardless of consent may not …
My old clients' minor child got a settlement held in trust by the parents, and I now hear the trust funds are missing. Do I have any duty to the child or to seek an accounting under Rule 1.9?
The Panel concluded that, assuming the attorney does not represent the guardian and no longer represents the parents, the attorney has no legal obligation to protect the minor's interest, and may not …
I have a part-time law practice and am a full-time police officer. Can I be the prosecuting officer and trial counsel for my town's police cases, and do the same for other towns, under Rule 1.7?
The Panel concluded the attorney may serve as trial counsel for the town and other municipalities so long as the lawyer's own interests do not materially limit duties to other clients, but may not pro…
I represent two clients, and one of them now has information that is directly adverse to the other's workers' compensation and personal injury claims. Can I keep representing both under Rule 1.7?
The Panel concluded that once one client's interests became directly adverse to the other's, Rule 1.7(a) barred continued dual representation, and the attorney should withdraw from representing the se…
My wife and I are sole practitioners with separate practices, and she is counsel to a state agency director. Can I represent her private client before a state board she has never represented?
The Panel concludes the spouses are not a law firm, so Rule 1.10 imputation does not apply, and Rule 1.8(i) does not disqualify the husband because the wife is not the lawyer representing the adverse …
I drafted leases for Client A that were later terminated. Now Client B wants me to collect the unpaid balance on those same contracts against A. Is that a conflict?
The Panel concludes that under Rule 1.9 this is a conflict, because the collection matter is the same or substantially related to the lease work the attorney did for Client A and Client B's interests …
I represented Client X before a licensing board while X worked for Company Y, and now Y has been summoned before the same board. X consents. Can I represent Y?
The Panel concludes that under Rule 1.7 the attorney may represent Company Y before the licensing board if the attorney reasonably believes the representation will not adversely affect Client X and ea…
The victim in my client's criminal case was once represented by another lawyer in my firm. Can I impeach the victim using public-record information without violating former-client duties?
The Panel concludes that the attorney may use information about the victim that has become generally known or is a matter of public record to impeach, even though the victim is a former client by impu…
A former partner represented Client X while we shared a firm, though I never worked on it. After the firm dissolved, can I take a new client adverse to X on a related lease?
The Panel concludes that under Rule 1.10(c) the attorney need not withdraw as long as the new matter is not the same or substantially related to the former partner's representation and the attorney ha…
Opposing counsel says they'll call both partners in our two-lawyer firm as witnesses about a settlement agreement. Can the partner whose role was limited still try the case?
The Panel concludes that under Rule 3.7 the partner is not precluded from acting as trial advocate, because that partner is not likely to be a necessary witness and the potential testimony will not re…
I'm the co-executor and attorney for an estate that can't find other counsel, and I'll definitely be a witness. Can I act as advocate at trial under Rule 3.7?
The Panel declines to decide, because it cannot determine on the facts whether Rule 3.7(a)(3)'s substantial-hardship exception applies, and suggests a motion in the pending court, with notice to all p…
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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.