Legal Ethics Opinions
Free state and local bar legal ethics opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and source links on every page.
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Can a collection lawyer let the creditor-client's own employees prepare demand letters sent on the lawyer's letterhead?
The committee concluded that a lawyer retained for collection work may use the creditor-client's employees to help prepare form demand letters sent on the lawyer's stationery and over the lawyer's sig…
Can a California lawyer mail nonclients letters quoting fees for routine services and describing the firm's qualifications?
The committee concluded that mailing nonclients letters that state fees and costs for routine legal services and describe the firm members' qualifications is not prohibited, so long as the letters are…
Can a California law office practice under a trade name instead of the lawyers' own names?
The committee concluded that the 1979 repeal of former Rule 2-103(B) permits California attorneys to practice under a trade name, so long as the name is not false, deceptive, or misleading under forme…
Can a lawyer donate legal services to be auctioned off by a charity as a fundraiser?
The committee concluded that nothing expressly prohibits a lawyer from donating legal services for a charitable auction, but the lawyer must observe several rules: accurately describe the services, av…
Does a lawyer's duty of confidentiality under RPC 1.6 continue after the client dies?
The committee concluded that the RPC 1.6 confidentiality obligation continues after the client's death. After death, the lawyer may disclose protected information only with the client's prior informed…
Can an attorney who is not competent to handle criminal cases accept a court appointment to represent an indigent criminal defendant?
No. The opinion concluded that an attorney who is not competent to handle criminal cases should respectfully decline appointment by the court to such cases, because Disciplinary Rule 6-101(A)(1) barre…
Can a firm whose member serves as City Attorney defend a person the City Police Department is prosecuting in Criminal Court?
No. The opinion concluded it is improper for a firm to defend a person prosecuted by the City Police Department when a firm member serves as City Attorney and is available to advise the police departm…
Can a New York firm list a foreign correspondent or associated firm on its letterhead?
The opinion concluded that a New York firm may not list a foreign 'correspondent,' 'associated,' or 'affiliated' firm on its letterhead, because those terms have no settled meaning and are misleading …
Can an assistant county counsel also defend a municipality in the same county in a civil-rights suit that does not involve the county?
Yes. The opinion concluded there was no inherent or potential conflict in an assistant county counsel defending a municipality, its mayor, and council in a civil-rights action that did not include the…
Can a lawyer send fee-schedule information to a registered group legal-services plan without committing improper solicitation?
Yes. The opinion concluded that furnishing the fee information allowed by the advertising rule to a group properly formed and registered under the legal-services-plan rule is proper advertising, not i…
May the lawyer who drafts a will name himself as the estate's attorney, executor, or a beneficiary, and does it matter whether the client asked for it?
A scrivener who inserts a clause retaining himself for the estate without the client's request acts unethically; where the testator directs such a designation or a legacy, the opinion treated independ…
Can a Tennessee lawyer send a pre-suit demand letter, with a copy of a proposed complaint, or an excess-liability letter to an insurer, before the adverse party is represented?
Yes, in good faith. The opinion concluded there is no impropriety in sending a demand letter stating the facts, legal theories, and a proposed complaint, or an excess letter to the insurer noting a se…
Can a Kentucky lawyer employ a disbarred or suspended lawyer specifically as a paralegal?
No. The opinion concluded that KBA E-255 is dispositive: a disbarred or suspended lawyer is not a paralegal within SCR 3.700 and so may not be employed in that role.
Can a Kentucky lawyer employ a disbarred or suspended lawyer to do work, and what can that person do?
Qualified yes. The opinion concluded a disbarred or suspended lawyer may be employed for preparatory or ministerial work that a layperson could do, but only under strict provisos: no client contact, n…
When an associate leaves a law firm, may the associate keep representing the firm's clients, and who is entitled to the client files?
The committee concluded it is not improper for a former associate to represent clients of the former firm if they agree, and both the associate and the firm may access the relevant files. Who keeps th…
Can one law firm represent both the substitute trustee under a deed of trust and the lender in a bankruptcy adversary proceeding seeking relief from the automatic stay?
The opinion concluded the firm may not represent both, because the trustee must preserve the interests of both lender and borrower while the lender is an adversary of the debtor, so advocating for the…
If a lawyer sits on a city council, county board, or legislature, what must the lawyer and the lawyer's partners do when the firm appears before that body?
The opinion set out recusal duties for a lawyer-member when his firm appears before his board, and barred the firm from representing that board; it was later overruled in part by RPC 130, which allows…
Can a lawyer employed as a Public Service Commission staff attorney also take private work as a consultant or expert witness in utility rate cases for outside consumer groups?
LEI 81-4 concluded that a Public Service Commission staff attorney should stop accepting any private employment related to utilities and utility regulation while employed by the PSC, to avoid conflict…
Can a lawyer representing one spouse in a contested divorce alleging cruel and inhuman treatment also prepare the answer for the other spouse to sign?
No. The opinion concluded that Canon 5 bars an attorney from accepting employment that involves representing differing interests, and preparing the opposing spouse's answer in a contested (non-irrecon…
Can a prosecutor campaign for other candidates while running for re-election?
The opinion concluded that a prosecuting attorney may not actively campaign for other candidates for public office, even during the year the prosecutor is himself a candidate for re-election.
May a law firm keep the name of a deceased or retired partner in the firm name?
Yes. The committee concluded that DR 2-102(B) permits a firm to continue using the name of one or more deceased or retired members 'if otherwise lawful,' which it read to mean permitted unless specifi…
May a lawyer charge a contingent fee in a divorce case, tied to obtaining the decree or to the property and alimony the client recovers?
No. The committee, readopting a 1932 opinion, concluded that a contingent fee contract in a divorce case is against public policy and void, because it gives the lawyer a personal interest in preventin…
If a lawyer promised a client's creditor that a debt would be paid from a settlement, and the client then wants to renegotiate, can the lawyer pay the creditor instead of the client?
The opinion concluded that whether the lawyer must turn the settlement proceeds over to the client or to the creditor depends on legal questions, such as the common law of agency, that fall outside th…
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…
Can a lawyer who serves as conservator and must testify against a bank in his conservator suit be represented by his own law firm?
No. The opinion concluded that where a lawyer-conservator will be required to testify in his own suit against a bank that dishonored the conservatorship account after a non-lawyer employee forged his …
Can a Kentucky lawyer disclose the names, addresses, or credit history of clients, and when is that information confidential?
Qualified yes. The opinion concluded a client's identity and the existence of the relationship are usually confidential; a lawyer may reveal a client's name only via public record, where confidentiali…
Can a Kentucky lawyer send a nonlawyer instead of a lawyer to sit in on the lawyer's own client's deposition?
No. The opinion concluded the lawyer (or another lawyer in the firm) must at least observe the client's deposition in every case; sending a nonlawyer in a lawyer's place neglects the matter under DR 6…
Can a Kentucky public defender appointed for an indigent client also take a paid retainer to defend that same client in a separate criminal case in another county?
Qualified yes. The opinion concluded the lawyer may continue only if four conditions are met, including that the fee come from someone other than the accused and that a signed affidavit be transmitted…
Are members of a firm that serves as general counsel to a law enforcement officers association disqualified from practicing criminal defense?
Not automatically. The opinion concluded that firm members who serve as general counsel to the Tennessee Law Enforcement Officers Association, handling corporate, tax, regulatory, and death-benefit ma…
Can a Tennessee law firm produce and hand out a manual about the firm, covering its policies, facilities, fees, and attorney biographies, with no advertising disclaimer?
No, not as proposed. The opinion concluded that the proposed firm manual, distributed to clients and prospective clients with no disclaimer and no restriction on further distribution, did not fall wit…
Can one attorney represent both spouses in an irreconcilable differences divorce?
Yes, if there is no dispute and both parties give informed consent. The opinion concluded that an attorney may represent both parties in an irreconcilable differences divorce where no dispute or confl…
Can a law firm defend coal mining clients against federal surface-mining violations when one of the firm's partners sits on the state's quasi-judicial Board of Reclamation Review?
No. The opinion concluded that a lawyer who holds a quasi-judicial position on the state Board of Reclamation Review, adjudicating state surface-mining violations, is barred, along with the rest of th…
If a prosecutor convicts a drunk driver, can the prosecutor's law partner sue that driver in a personal injury case for the passenger who was a witness in the criminal case?
The opinion concluded no; the lawyer had to withdraw from the civil case. Maine Bar Rule 3.4(h) bars private employment in a matter where the lawyer (here the prosecutor partner) held substantial and …
Is it unethical for a lawyer to bill in minimum time increments, like a tenth or a quarter of an hour, even when a task took less time than the full unit?
The opinion concluded that billing in reasonably accurate minimum time units is not an ethical impropriety. The Commission found that the small deviations from exact precision are de minimis in substa…
A lawyer watched police search his office and his clients' files; can he testify for those clients at a suppression hearing without withdrawing, and can he still try the case?
The opinion concluded that the lawyer may not testify at the motion-to-dismiss hearing without first withdrawing as counsel, because his eyewitness testimony about the search would be on a contested m…
May an attorney charge a contingent fee based on a percentage of a lump-sum property settlement awarded in a domestic relations case?
The committee concluded it is ethically improper to base a legal fee on a percentage of the court-awarded lump-sum property settlement. Decided under Virginia's former Code of Professional Responsibil…
If defending a putative father in a paternity case requires attacking the legal basis of the state's paternity program, can the same attorney who prosecutes paternity cases for the state under that program still take the defense appointment?
No. On the additional facts supplied after Opinion 81-F-12, the Board concluded that because defending the putative father would require attacking the statutory and constitutional bases of the entire …
Can a city attorney who prosecutes juvenile cases also accept appointments, or a retainer, to defend juveniles in court?
LEI 81-3 concluded that a city attorney whose duties include prosecuting juvenile cases should not defend juveniles, whether retained or appointed, in a state court of record, because the prosecutor's…
Can a Tennessee lawyer secretly tape record a discovery deposition for later voice stress analysis without telling the witness or opposing counsel?
No, as originally decided. Adopting ABA Formal Opinion 337, the opinion concluded that secretly recording conversations, including a deposition taped for undisclosed voice stress analysis, is unethica…
Can a lawyer who is the trustee under a deed of trust represent one of the parties in a partition proceeding that involves the lender and the trustee?
The opinion concluded the lawyer-trustee may not represent the party unless he first resigns as trustee, because the trustee is a fiduciary to both lender and borrower and cannot be both a party in th…
Can a plaintiff's divorce lawyer prepare and give the unrepresented defendant an 'Acceptance of Service and Waiver' form that waives the right to answer and to notice of trial?
The opinion concluded the plaintiff's lawyer may not send or make available a form waiving the defendant's right to answer or to notice of trial, because that has the same effect as drafting an answer…
Can a firm represent private clients before city boards and negotiate city contracts while also doing case-by-case trial work defending the city and its police officers?
Yes. The opinion concluded that a firm that is not on retainer to a city and is not its municipal attorney does not violate the Canons of Ethics by representing private clients before city boards, the…
Can an attorney who is under contract to prosecute paternity cases for the state also accept court appointments to defend indigent putative fathers in other paternity cases?
Generally yes, with safeguards, as originally decided. The opinion concluded there is no inherent conflict of interest barring the arrangement per se, but Canon 5 required the attorney to explain the …
Can a firm whose lawyer serves as the County Beer Board's attorney also represent private clients before other, unrelated county boards like the Board of Zoning Appeals?
Yes. The opinion concluded that a firm whose lawyer prepares minutes for, litigates appeals for, and advises the County Beer Board is not barred by Formal Ethics Opinion 81-F-4 from representing indiv…
Can a Kentucky law firm run a newspaper announcement about new offices, new partners or associates, or a relocation?
Yes. The opinion concluded that since the Kentucky advertising rule SCR 3.135 took effect in 1978, a firm may publish such public announcements as long as they fully comply with that rule. It eliminat…
Can an assistant county attorney who handles only Title IV-D child-support cases, and no prosecutions, also defend criminal cases?
No. The opinion concluded that any lawyer who performs Title IV-D work for the Commonwealth in any respect may not practice criminal defense, both by the committee's prior opinions and by statute (KRS…
Can a Kentucky lawyer skip a court hearing or stop appearing for a client because the client has not paid the fee?
Qualified no. The opinion concluded a lawyer who has appeared or agreed to appear may not simply stop showing up over unpaid fees; withdrawal requires compelling reasons, proper notice, and court perm…
Can a Kentucky law practice incorporated as a P.S.C. operate under the name 'John Doe & Associates,' and may it use 'and Lawyers' or 'and Attorneys' instead?
Qualified yes. The opinion concluded a professional service corporation may practice as one member's name 'and Associates' if it employs two or more associates, but 'and Lawyers' or 'and Attorneys' is…
If a Kentucky lawyer did estate planning for a married couple, can the lawyer later represent one spouse in their divorce?
Qualified yes. The opinion concluded it depends on how the estate plan was done: if the couple met jointly, confidences were shared and the lawyer may represent one spouse, but if the lawyer met them …
Can lawyers run a financial planning company from their law office and take its customers as legal clients?
The opinion concluded that members of a law firm may operate a financial planning corporation from their law office and accept its customers as legal clients, provided the corporation is not used to s…
Can an attorney who settled a landlord's lease dispute with a tenant later sue that same tenant on the landlord's insurer's subrogation claim arising from the same fire?
No. The opinion concluded that an attorney who defended a building owner in a tenant's suit over fire damage, and negotiated the settlement that resolved it, could not later represent the owner's insu…
Can a lawyer represent an heir contesting a will when the lawyer and his secretary will be material witnesses on the testator's mental competence?
No, as originally decided. The opinion concluded that where an attorney had earlier determined, along with his secretary, that a client was not competent to make a will, and the client later executed …
Can one lawyer defend both a minor driver and the parent sued for failing to supervise the minor in the same auto-negligence case?
No. The opinion concluded that the potential for conflict between the minor and the parent, including possible cross-claims for contribution and the parent's defense undercutting the minor, foreclosed…
Can a lawyer who is a county college trustee appear before the boards and agencies of the same county for private clients?
Yes. The opinion concluded that because a county college is an autonomous, separate political subdivision not under county fiscal control, an attorney who is a trustee may appear before county agencie…
Can a union's lawyer also serve as counsel to a joint labor-management committee that investigates whether union members' workers' comp claims are made in good faith?
No. The opinion concluded that union counsel may not serve a committee investigating the good faith of members' compensation claims, because the committee's interests are potentially adverse to member…
May a lawyer charge interest or a finance charge on a client's overdue fee account?
The committee concluded it is improper to automatically impose interest or finance charges on delinquent fee accounts, but an interest charge is permissible in an individual case where the client has …
May a lawyer accept credit cards for the payment of legal fees and expenses, and on what conditions?
The committee concluded that, reversing the prior prohibition, lawyers may accept credit cards for legal fees and expenses if the Code is fully observed: advance fees paid by card stay in trust until …
After defending school officials in suits a teachers' association brought, can the same lawyer then sue that association for malicious prosecution and defamation on the officials' behalf?
Yes. The opinion concluded that the lawyer's prior defense of the board members and superintendent did not conflict with bringing affirmative claims against the association, so DR 5-105(A) did not bar…
Can a lawyer with no experience in a field advertise his availability for conferences by relying on an associated out-of-state attorney's expertise?
No. The opinion concluded that an advertisement by a lawyer who admittedly has no experience in the advertised field is misleading and deceptive, and impliedly holds him out as a specialist, both impr…
Can a lawyer who made a fee-sharing referral agreement that violates the Code keep the whole fee and refuse to pay the forwarding lawyer?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may not keep the entire fee by reneging on a fee-sharing agreement in the name of the Code; the matter should go to a bar association panel to set what fee may be c…
How these opinions are useful
- Understand the rules: Ethics opinions interpret how the rules of professional conduct apply to real fact patterns.
- Persuasive authority: Not binding like court discipline decisions, but state bar formal opinions carry substantial weight.
- Working guidance: The committee shows lawyers what the rule actually requires day to day (conflicts checks, fee letters, intake screens, withdrawal mechanics).
- Practice research: Cite ethics opinions in fee agreements, engagement letters, conflict waivers, and disqualification motions.