State Bar Association of North Dakota Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the State Bar Association of North Dakota, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Can a state's attorney who used to be a public defender prosecute a person they once represented, when the new charge is unrelated to the old case?
Sometimes, but only after a careful Rule 1.9 analysis and safeguards. The committee concluded a prosecutor may handle a case against a former client if the new matter is not the same or substantially …
Can a firm that represents a government entity in unrelated matters defend a private client against that same government entity in a fraud investigation, if both clients consent?
The committee concluded Rule 1.7 does not explicitly prohibit the representation, but applies Rule 1.7(c): because the representation only might be adversely affected, the firm may proceed only if it …
Can a lawyer employed in a non-attorney capacity as a state-court case officer also run a limited real-estate and title practice on the side?
The committee concluded the Rules of Professional Conduct contain no express prohibition on dual practice or second occupations. Rule 5.7 supplies the framework: to the extent the case-officer job is …
Can a licensed lawyer who works as a clerk of court take pro bono cases through a volunteer lawyer program, especially defending child-support cases in her own district?
No. The committee concluded that the lawyer's position as clerk of court, her statutory duties to the district judges, her access to the state child-support computer system, and her prior work for the…
Can a firm that represents a city in civil matters also take a contract to defend indigent defendants the city is prosecuting?
No. The committee concluded that a firm which represents the city (through contracts with the city attorney) cannot also serve as contract indigent-defense counsel against the city's own prosecutions.…
Does a lawyer serving as an administrative law judge violate Rule 5.5 by allowing a non-attorney to represent a corporation at an administrative hearing?
The committee concluded that an administrative law judge violates Rule 5.5(e) by knowingly permitting the unauthorized practice of law in a proceeding over which the judge presides, limited to conduct…
Can an indigent-defense lawyer be required, even with a written waiver, to report a client's financial information to the funding commission when it could be disclosed in open court?
The committee concluded that disclosing a client's confidential financial information to the funding commission, knowing it would be filed in open court and could be used against the client, would vio…
If a prosecutor is conflicted out of a matter because it is adverse to a former client, are the other lawyers in the same state's attorney's office also disqualified?
The committee concluded that a state's attorney who formerly represented a party may not handle the office's same matter against that former client under Rule 1.9(a), and that because the lawyers in a…
If a lawyer's law partner sits on the city council, can the lawyer still defend criminal cases in that city's court?
No. A lawyer who sits on a city council has a non-waivable conflict in defending criminal cases in that city (Opinion 05-06), and Rule 1.10 imputes that conflict to the partner's firm. The committee c…
Can separately located public defender offices run by one state commission be treated as separate law firms, so a conflict in one office is not imputed to the others?
On the facts presented (offices in different cities with separate staff, files, computer systems, and letterhead, no shared access to client confidences, and only administrative oversight by the commi…
Can a lawyer who serves on the city council and its police commission defend criminal cases in that city's court, and can resigning a seat cure the conflict?
The committee concluded a sitting city council member may not defend city cases moved to district court (a non-waivable conflict that requires resigning the council seat to take such cases). Defending…
Can a North Dakota prosecutor accept a small thank-you gift from a crime victim, and do the ethics rules address it?
The committee concluded that North Dakota's Rules of Professional Conduct do not address whether a prosecutor may accept a gift from a victim. It pointed the prosecutor to a statute (N.D.C.C. 11-16-05…
Does a law firm's earlier insurance-coverage opinion for a company create a conflict that bars the firm from later bringing a shareholder derivative or class action on that company's behalf?
Because a derivative action is brought in the right of the corporation, the committee concluded the firm represented the same client (the company) in both matters, so no Rule 1.9 conflict arose on the…
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Legal ethics opinions from the State Bar Association of North Dakota 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.