Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Can a Tennessee lawyer agree to a settlement non-disparagement clause that makes the lawyer a party and limits future use of information learned in the case?
No. Tennessee Formal Ethics Opinion 2025-F-171 concludes it is improper for a lawyer to propose or accept a settlement provision that makes the lawyer a party bound by a non-disparagement clause restr…
Can a Tennessee lawyer accept credit cards or payment apps like Venmo and PayPal for legal fees, including unearned retainers?
Yes. Tennessee Formal Ethics Opinion 2023-F-170 permits lawyers to accept credit cards and payment-processing services for fees, including unearned fees, if they protect client confidentiality, treat …
Can a lawyer agree to a settlement confidentiality clause that bars the lawyer from referring to the incident, the product, or the defendants' identity in other cases?
Formal Ethics Opinion 2018-F-166 holds that it is improper for a lawyer to propose or accept a settlement confidentiality clause barring future use or disclosure of publicly available information (suc…
Can a government-employed ombudsman attorney give limited legal advice to a self-represented party without forming an attorney-client relationship?
Formal Ethics Opinion 2017-F-162 concludes that a workers' compensation ombudsman attorney may give limited legal advice to pro se litigants under RPC 1.2(c) without creating an attorney-client relati…
Can a Tennessee lawyer store confidential client information in the cloud?
Formal Ethics Opinion 2015-F-159 concludes that a lawyer may store confidential client information in the cloud if the lawyer uses reasonable care to keep the information confidential and secure, comp…
Must a lawyer who prepared a client's will produce it in response to a court order or subpoena, and can the lawyer assert privilege or confidentiality?
Formal Ethics Opinion 2014-F-158 concludes that a lawyer cannot simply refuse a court order or subpoena for a will, but under RPC 1.6(c)(2) must assert all non-frivolous claims that the will is privil…
When a former client claims ineffective assistance of counsel, may the defense lawyer voluntarily give the prosecutor confidential information before a court orders disclosure?
Formal Ethics Opinion 2013-F-156 concludes that the self-defense exception to confidentiality (RPC 1.6(b)(5)) permits, but does not require, a defense lawyer accused of ineffective assistance to make …
What must a Tennessee lawyer do after receiving an opposing party's confidential or privileged documents that were clearly sent by mistake?
Formal Ethics Opinion 2004-F-150 concludes that a lawyer who receives an adversary's documents that on their face appear privileged or confidential, under circumstances making clear they were not inte…
Can insurance defense counsel get around the consent rule for insurer audits by redacting confidences or routing bills through the insurer?
Formal Ethics Opinion 99-F-143(a) clarified 99-F-143: an attorney may not unilaterally redact confidences and secrets to avoid client consent (the client decides what is secret); may not evade the con…
Can insurance defense counsel let the insurer's outside auditors review billing and case files, and follow insurer directives on the defense?
Formal Ethics Opinion 99-F-143 concluded that an insurance defense lawyer may not disclose the insured's confidences or secrets to the insurer's outside auditors (in bills or files) without the insure…
In Tennessee, does a lawyer's duty to protect client confidences prevail over a duty to disclose the client's fraud or perjury?
Formal Ethics Opinion 96-F-133(a) reported that the Tennessee Supreme Court rejected a proposed amendment to DR 7-102(B)(1) that would have required lawyers to disclose privileged information of a cli…
Can a Tennessee lawyer appointed to represent a minor seeking judicial bypass of parental consent for an abortion decline the appointment on moral, religious, or malpractice-insurance grounds?
Formal Ethics Opinion 96-F-140 addressed the duties of counsel appointed to represent a minor petitioning for judicial bypass of the parental-consent requirement for an abortion. It concluded that cou…
What must a Tennessee lawyer do when the client has committed perjury during an ongoing court proceeding and refuses to recant?
Vacated and superseded. As originally issued, Formal Ethics Opinion 93-F-133 concluded that when a client commits perjury in an ongoing proceeding, the lawyer must ask the client to recant; if the cli…
Must a lawyer in a bar-association mentoring or 'Colleagues' program report ethics violations learned through that program's confidential counseling?
Formal Ethics Opinion 91-F-126 concluded that lawyers participating in a local bar's Colleagues mentoring program are afforded a privilege not to disclose confidences and secrets learned through the p…
Can effective screening procedures avoid imputed disqualification of an entire law firm when a lawyer, paralegal, or other staff member who worked on a matter at a former firm joins a firm now opposing that matter?
The opinion concluded that screening is a viable method to avoid imputed disqualification under DR 5-105(D), overruling the Board's prior categorical rejection of screening in Opinion 87-F-110. It ado…
Can a Tennessee law firm lease non-lawyer office staff, such as secretaries or bookkeepers, from a third-party staffing employer instead of hiring them directly?
The opinion held there is no impropriety in a law firm leasing non-lawyer staff personnel from a third-party lessor/employer, provided the firm exercises reasonable care to prevent the leased personne…
Can a plaintiff's lawyer interview a defendant hospital's nurses about the facts of a malpractice claim, and does the attorney-client privilege block it?
Yes; privilege does not block factual interviews. The opinion concluded that nurses employed by a hospital may be interviewed by the plaintiff's attorney without the hospital's lawyer's consent about …
Can a Tennessee lawyer lease office space from a corporate client and share the client's reception room and receptionist?
Yes. The opinion found no impropriety in leasing office space from a corporate client and sharing a common reception room and receptionist/typist, provided the physical layout makes clear when visitor…
If a district attorney says he will call the defense attorney as a witness about a client's statements, can the attorney keep representing the client?
It turns on a legal question outside the Board's ethics jurisdiction: whether a court rules the client's statements privileged. If the court finds them privileged, the attorney may continue representi…
When a lawyer takes over another lawyer's client files, is there a confidential relationship between them, and must the new lawyer report ethical violations found in the files?
No special privilege; the reporting duty applies. The opinion concluded that no confidential relationship exists between attorneys merely because one takes over the files of another, and that DR 1-103…
Can a Tennessee lawyer give client information to an outside accountant or computer tax service hired to help prepare the client's tax return?
Only with the client's informed consent. The opinion concluded an attorney may use an accountant or computer tax service to prepare a client's return only if the attorney, recognizing the records may …
Can a legal services law office give client identifying information, like Social Security numbers and demographics, to the government agency that funds the office?
Only with the client's informed written consent. The opinion concluded that client identifying details such as Social Security number, address, date of birth, sex, race, and referral source are secret…
If a state investigative subpoena demands a law firm's entire trust account records, must the firm resist disclosure of information about clients who did not consent and are not the target of the investigation?
Yes. The opinion concluded that although the client who is the subject of the T.B.I. investigation consented to release of information, the firm is ethically obligated to resist disclosing confidentia…
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Legal ethics opinions from the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee 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.