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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I moved firms and want to sue a school district that is my old firm's client, but I never worked on its matters there. Does Rule 1.9 disqualify me?
The panel concluded the inquiring attorney may represent the client without the former firm's consent. Rule 1.9(b) disqualifies a migrating lawyer only when the matter is the same or substantially rel…
I represented a client only in his SSDI claim. I later learned he falsely attested, in a separate workers' comp settlement I had nothing to do with, that he had not applied for SSDI. Must I report that to a tribunal?
No. The panel held that the duty of candor under Rule 3.3 attaches only where the lawyer is representing the client in the proceeding in question, and because the inquiring attorney never represented …
My former client is appealing his criminal convictions by claiming I represented him ineffectively, and I expect to be subpoenaed. May I testify using confidential information from the representation to defend myself?
The panel concluded the attorney may testify using information relating to the former representation. Although Rules 1.6 and 1.9(c) ordinarily bar revealing such information even after the representat…
My former client, now deceased, confessed to me that he set a fire, and now someone else has been criminally charged for it. Am I permitted to disclose the confession?
The panel concluded the attorney must disclose. The confession is confidential under Rules 1.6(a) and 1.9(c), but the duty of candor under Rule 3.3, which qualifies confidentiality and applies even wh…
A former criminal-defense client disputed a court-transcript vendor's credit-card charge, and the vendor wants me to sign an affidavit confirming I received the transcripts and the work was acceptable. Does giving that affidavit breach my duty of confidentiality to a former client?
The panel concluded the attorney may provide the affidavit. It would use information relating to the former representation to the client's disadvantage under Rule 1.9(c)(1), but the specific facts (th…
I switched to the firm that represents the estate I was adverse to for a former client. Can I work on the related trust matter, or does my firm have to screen me?
The panel concluded the attorney is personally disqualified under Rule 1.9(a) from the trust matter, but the former client can remove the disqualification with written informed consent; absent that co…
A prosecutor wants me to testify about a former client. Does confidentiality still apply, and must I testify if a court orders it?
The panel concluded confidentiality under Rule 1.6 applies to a former representation and continues under Rule 1.9(c). The client may waive it by informed consent. Absent waiver, the lawyer should ass…
I was a corporation's outside counsel years ago. May I now represent a buyer suing that corporation over a contract I never handled?
The panel concluded no conflict under Rule 1.9 because the buyer's breach claim is not the same as or substantially related to the lawyer's prior work for the corporation. The lawyer gained no specifi…
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…
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 …
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…
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 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…
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…
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 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'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 used to be the probate judge in my town but wasn't reappointed. Can I now represent clients in matters before that same probate court?
Yes, with a limit. The panel held a former municipal probate judge may represent clients before the same probate court, provided the lawyer does not represent anyone in connection with a matter the la…
My firm represented a company on permits for a real estate project. The company sold its assets to a new corporation with different owners, and some of the old company's disgruntled shareholders are threatening to challenge the sale. Can we now represent the new owner on the same permits?
Yes. The panel found no Rule 1.9 conflict because the new owner's interests in the permits are not adverse to the former corporate client's; the adversity over the sale runs between the former client'…
I drafted a will and trust for a now-deceased client and represent the trustee. The trust now needs a second co-trustee, a longtime friend I've also represented personally on unrelated matters and who belongs to my church, which may benefit from the trust. Both want me to continue as counsel. Can I, and does my proposed disclosure letter cover the ethics requirements?
Yes to both. The panel held there is no Rule 1.9 conflict representing the second trustee because the prior personal representations are not substantially related to the trust and foundation matters, …
As a former assistant public defender, I once represented a murder defendant who later testified against a co-defendant under a plea deal. My future law partner currently represents that co-defendant. The co-defendant is willing to waive any conflict and have me screened. If I join the new firm, will my old conflict spread to the whole firm, and does screening fix it?
The conflict does impute to the new firm, and screening alone does not fix it. The panel held Rule 1.10(b) imputes the inquiring attorney's conflict to the new firm because the two defendants' interes…
My insurance-company client assigned me to defend Physician A in a malpractice suit; Physician A was later dismissed. Now the same insurer wants me to represent Physician C, a non-party witness in the same case who's worried about being added as a defendant, at a deposition. Can I represent Physician C when my former client Physician A was a co-defendant in the same lawsuit?
It depends on whether the two physicians' interests are actually adverse. The panel held the attorney must first determine whether Physician C's interests, or testimony, are materially adverse to form…
Years ago, before I became town solicitor, two residents consulted me about the town's plan to close a landfill and monitor groundwater there. I never took on their representation. Now, as solicitor, I'm handling a dispute over siting a new municipal facility on an adjacent lot, and those same two residents are opposing it as part of a citizens group. Do I have a conflict?
No. The panel held the current facility-siting controversy is not the same or substantially related to the earlier landfill-closure and groundwater consultation, so Rule 1.9 does not bar representing …
I used to represent a husband and wife together on the wife's immigration status. The applications were withdrawn and the marriage has now broken down. The wife wants me to represent her in a new application where she'll claim the husband subjected her to extreme cruelty. Can I take that case?
No, and the conflict can't be waived. The panel held Rule 1.9 bars the representation because the wife's new application is substantially related to the prior joint immigration applications and materi…
A client fired me, hired new counsel, and asked me not to contact them, but I want to talk to them about the discharge and the file transfer. Does Rule 4.2 stop me?
Yes. The panel held Rule 4.2 prohibits the discharged attorney from communicating with the client about the discharge or the file transfer without successor counsel's consent, once the client's author…
I used to represent a school committee at a termination hearing. Now the committee is being sued over that termination and two individual members who voted against it want me to represent them personally. Can I, or can someone else at my firm?
No. The panel held the school committee is the attorney's former client under Rule 1.9, the pending lawsuit is the same or substantially related to the termination hearing, and the conflict is imputed…
My former client retained a malpractice lawyer to sue me over a missed statute of limitations and told me not to contact them directly. Do I still owe them a duty to flag a separate viable claim, and can I reach out about it anyway?
No continuing duty and no direct contact. The panel held the attorney-client relationship ended once the client retained malpractice counsel, so Rule 1.3 and 1.4 no longer apply, and contacting the cl…
Years ago I helped a company get regulatory approval for one parcel of land. Now a different company wants me to represent it on an adjacent parcel before the same agency, and my former client objects. Is that a conflict?
It depends on whether the two representations are substantially related. The panel could not determine that connection from the facts given and held that if the matters are not substantially related, …
Two of my former clients will testify against my current client in a boundary dispute. I represented those former clients in unrelated matters years ago. Is that a conflict?
No. The panel held Rule 1.9 does not bar the representation because the boundary dispute is unrelated to the earlier corporate and personal injury matters, so long as no confidential information from …
Can I represent new clients in a boundary dispute against a former client, when the disputed property is the same real estate I handled for that former client in an earlier divorce case?
No. The panel held Rule 1.9 barred the representation because the boundary dispute over the same real estate is substantially related to the earlier representation, so the former client's consent afte…
As a former state agency lawyer now in private practice, can I represent private clients bringing the same type of statutory claims against my old agency, as long as I wasn't personally involved in their specific cases?
Yes. The panel held Rule 1.11 bars a former government lawyer only from the particular matters they personally handled, so representing clients in the same kind of case is permitted, though Rule 1.9(b…
If a client dies before signing a will I drafted, can I testify at a deposition about who the client intended to name as beneficiaries?
No. The panel held the duty of confidentiality under Rule 1.6 survives the client's death, so the lawyer must invoke the attorney-client privilege and the confidentiality obligation rather than disclo…
When a lawyer jointly represented a married couple who are now divorcing, who is entitled to the joint client file?
Both former joint clients are entitled to the joint file. The panel held the lawyer should give each spouse a copy (withholding the lawyer's own work product) and hold the original in escrow until the…
If a Rhode Island lawyer withdraws from representing a client, can the lawyer then represent someone else in a claim against that same client?
Not without the first client's consent. The panel held this stays a current-client conflict under Rule 1.7, not a former-client issue under Rule 1.9, because the lawyer withdrew from the first represe…
Two of the parties fighting over a right-of-way are both former clients of my firm, on opposite sides. Can my firm represent either one?
The panel concluded that under Rule 1.9 and Rule 1.10, and absent consent, the firm may represent neither the buyers of the dominant parcel nor the servient-parcel owners, because both are former clie…
My firm's lawyers used to represent Company A on its waste-disposal cleanup cases at other sites. Can we now represent other companies against Company A at a new landfill site without Company A's consent?
The panel concluded that under Rule 1.9 the firm's lawyers had a former-client conflict because the new clients' interests were materially adverse to Company A and the matters were substantially relat…
I used to be a prosecutor and handled this defendant's case. Now in private practice, can I represent him at his parole hearing, can my firm take it if I'm screened, and can I collect a referral fee if I send it out?
The panel concluded that Rule 1.11(a) was an absolute bar to the former prosecutor personally representing the individual (RI's rule has no government-consent provision), that the firm could take the …
Years ago I did some work for the seller in a real estate closing while representing the buyer. Now the buyer faces an adverse-possession claim. Can I represent the buyer in a third-party warranty claim against that seller?
The panel concluded that Rule 1.9(a) prohibited the lawyer from representing the buyer against the seller, because the seller was a former client whose interests were materially adverse in a substanti…
Years ago I represented a union on contract and labor matters. Can I now represent a former union officer suing that union for defamation over statements it made recently?
The panel concluded that Rule 1.9 permitted the representation because the earlier contract and labor-relations work and the new defamation suit over 1997 statements were not the same or substantially…
Four years ago my firm represented Able in a car-accident injury claim. Can we now represent Baker, a passenger injured in a different accident, in a claim adverse to Able?
The panel concluded that Able was a former client under Rule 1.9, but because the earlier accident claim and the new one were not the same or substantially related matters, the firm could represent Ba…
Eight years ago I got Client A sole custody in her divorce. Can I now represent Client B, the present wife of Client A's ex-husband, in Client B's own child-support case against a different ex-spouse?
The panel concluded that Client A was a former client under Rule 1.9, but the continued representation of Client B was permitted because the custody matter and the new child-support matter were not th…
I got a deposition notice and a subpoena duces tecum for a former client's documents that I think are privileged, and the client won't consent to disclosure. Can I refuse to produce them?
The panel concluded that Rule 1.6 barred the lawyer from disclosing the information without the former client's consent and required the lawyer to invoke the attorney-client privilege and work-product…
I once jointly represented a husband and wife in a narrow insurance complaint that has ended. Now the husband wants me to represent him in their divorce. Is the wife a former client, and can I take the case?
The panel concluded that the wife was a former client under Rule 1.9 and that the lawyer could represent the husband in the divorce, because the earlier insurance-complaint matter and the divorce were…
A former client is being investigated for forging my signature on a letter on my letterhead. Investigators want a statement and my testimony that I didn't write or sign it. Does Rule 1.6 stop me?
The panel concluded that Rule 1.6 does not prohibit the lawyer from stating or testifying that the lawyer neither wrote nor signed the letter, because that fact is not information relating to the repr…
I left my old firm, where a colleague represents the wife in a pending divorce. The husband now wants to hire me, and I never worked on the wife's file. Am I disqualified?
The panel concluded that under Rule 1.10(b) the lawyer is not disqualified from representing the husband if the lawyer acquired no knowledge of information protected by Rules 1.6 and 1.9(b) about the …
A year ago I represented Marina A in a dock dispute on its south side. Now a long-time client wants permits for a new marina on Marina A's north side, and Marina A objects. Is that a conflict?
The panel concluded that the two matters were not substantially related, because the prior representation concerned only a south-side dock dispute while the new matter concerned a north-side pier and …
I used to represent a police union and some of its members in grievances. Now the ousted police chief wants me to handle his removal appeal, and union members will testify against him. Is that a conflict?
The panel concluded there was no conflict precluding the representation, because none of the fifteen misconduct allegations against the chief was the same or substantially related to the lawyer's prio…
Opposing counsel says I can't represent the wife in this divorce because I once gave her a refrigerator and drafted a family partnership that included both spouses. Do either of those create a conflict?
The panel concluded there was no conflict: drafting the family partnership was intermediary work for common clients under Rule 2.2, the partnership interests were not marital assets and not substantia…
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 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…
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…
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 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 …
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…
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…
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…
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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.