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 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 …
When are advanced or flat fees 'earned' so a lawyer can keep them out of trust, and when must they be held in a trust account?
Formal Ethics Opinion 92-F-128(a) refined 92-F-128. It held that advanced or flat fees may be either earned or unearned depending on the circumstances. Unearned fees of any kind (retainer, advanced, g…
Must a lawyer hold advanced, retainer, flat, and prepaid fees in trust, and can a retainer be nonrefundable?
Formal Ethics Opinion 92-F-128 concluded that all unearned attorney fees of any kind, including retainer, advanced, general, special, flat, and prepaid fees and advanced costs and expenses, are funds …
Can a state Attorney General seek and receive court-awarded attorney's fees at prevailing market rates rather than at the State's actual cost of providing the legal services?
Formal Ethics Opinion 91-F-125 concluded that the Tennessee Attorney General may request and receive awards of attorney's fees to the State based on prevailing market rates, not limited to a cost-base…
Can a Tennessee lawyer withhold a client's file or documents to force payment of a disputed fee?
The opinion concluded that an attorney may assert a common-law attorney's lien on a client's documents to secure payment of legal fees, but only as a last resort, after seeking other reasonable means …
Did the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Evans v. Jeff D. change Tennessee's ethics guidance on settlements that condition relief on a waiver of the plaintiff's attorney's fees?
No. The Board readopted its prior opinion's conclusion, in 85-F-96, that settlement negotiations including attorney's-fee provisions are not inherently improper if counsel fully advises the client, ad…
Can a Tennessee lawyer participate in a prepaid or group legal service plan?
The opinion held there is no impropriety in participating in open-panel prepaid legal service plans that let the consumer choose any attorney and that meet the ABA's interim standards adopted into thi…
Is it ethical for a settlement negotiation to include terms about the plaintiff's attorney's fees, including a defense offer conditioned on the lawyer waiving fees?
The opinion held that settlement negotiations including provisions for attorney's fees are not inherently improper and may be appropriate, provided plaintiff's counsel fully advises the client of ever…
Can a Tennessee lawyer take a one-third contingency fee out of each periodic payment in a structured settlement, rather than all at once from the up-front cash?
Yes. The opinion held the attorney may take his contingency percentage from each periodic settlement payment as it is received, take the entire fee upfront capped at his percentage of the settlement's…
Can a salaried FDIC staff attorney request a court-awarded attorney's fee, under a promissory note's fee clause, that exceeds the FDIC's actual salary and legal expense costs of collection?
No. The opinion held the FDIC staff attorney is ethically prohibited from requesting or permitting the court to award a fee in excess of the amount necessary to reimburse the FDIC for the actual salar…
Can a defendant's attorney offer a structured settlement without improperly participating in setting the plaintiff's attorney's contingency fee, and how should the plaintiff's attorney handle the fee when the settlement itself is structured?
Yes, a defendant's attorney offering structured settlement options does not improperly participate in setting the plaintiff's attorney's fee, because that fee is already fixed by the contingency agree…
Can a lawyer divide a contingency fee with co-counsel who was suspended from practice before the fee was paid, and can he employ a suspended attorney in a non-legal role?
Fee yes, employment no. The opinion concluded a lawyer may divide a fee with a suspended attorney based solely on the work performed and responsibility assumed before the suspension, with the client's…
What interest rate and time-price differential caps apply to a Tennessee lawyer's credit card and delinquent-account plans under the Board's guidelines?
The opinion amended two numeric caps set in Formal Ethics Opinion 82-F-28: the time-price differential on credit card plans could not exceed the rate specified in T.C.A. 47-11-104, and the maximum eff…
Can a collections attorney deposit earned legal fees into an interest-bearing trust account and remit the accumulated excess interest to the clients?
No. The opinion concluded that remitting excess interest earned on an attorney's own fees to the client is an improper division of the attorney's fee with the client, and that the Code's requirements …
Under what conditions could a Tennessee lawyer accept credit card payment for legal fees and charge interest on accounts more than 30 days delinquent?
Under detailed conditions, since superseded. The opinion concluded there is no impropriety in a credit card plan or in charging interest on accounts over 30 days delinquent, provided conditions were m…
Can a Tennessee lawyer accept a contingent fee in a domestic relations case?
Accepting a contingent fee in a domestic relations case, standing alone, does not warrant discipline, but the opinion concluded such arrangements are rarely justified because of the human relationship…
Can one lawyer become a partner in two separate law firms in different cities, with his name added to both firm names, while each firm keeps its own separate operations and fee-splitting formula?
Yes, generally. The opinion concluded there is no impropriety in a lawyer becoming a partner and practicing attorney in two separate professional firms in different cities, with his name added to both…
If a client's contract with a debtor sets attorney fees at 20% of the debt, and the lawyer collects that percentage directly from the debtor via garnishment, can the client then demand the lawyer turn that fee over too, on the theory the lawyer's real deal with the client was an hourly rate?
No, as to the contractual percentage fee itself. The opinion concluded that where the attorney collected a sum certain as attorney's fee under the contract between the debtor and creditor, using court…
Did Formal Ethics Opinion 80-F-1 condemn all structured settlements, or just settlement offers that let the defense fix the plaintiff's attorney fee?
Just the fee-fixing arrangement. The Board clarified that Opinion 80-F-1's statement calling structured-settlement fee interests inherently conducive to divided loyalties was not intended to condemn a…
Can a plaintiff's attorney accept a defense settlement offer that is structured so the opposing insurance carrier effectively fixes what the attorney's fee will be?
No, as originally decided. The opinion concluded that where a defendant's insurance carrier offered settlement packages that fixed the attorney's cash fee at a flat amount regardless of how the remain…
Browse Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee opinions by topic
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.