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 lawyer who serves on the bar's Lawyers and Judges Assistance Committee represent another lawyer, or that lawyer's family, in a court proceeding to commit the lawyer for alcohol or drug abuse?
The opinion concluded that a member of the Lawyers and Judges Assistance Committee may not represent another attorney as a respondent in an alcohol or drug-abuse commitment proceeding, and may not rep…
Can a law firm that is the exclusive Mississippi provider for a for-profit prepaid legal plan let the plan's sales agents pitch memberships to individuals and families in person?
The opinion concluded that although Rule 7.2(c) lets a prepaid legal services plan advertise the firm's services, the plan's use of agents to make in-person sales contacts with prospective clients is …
Can a lawyer interview a former employee of an opposing organization that is represented by counsel, without first getting that counsel's consent?
The opinion concluded that no former employees of a represented organization are off-limits under Rule 4.2 (unless individually represented in the matter), but the interviewing lawyer must observe Rul…
Can a lawyer represent a bar applicant in character and fitness proceedings when a colleague at the firm sits on the character and fitness committee?
The opinion concluded that no member of a law firm may represent a private client in character and fitness proceedings when another lawyer in the firm serves on the State Bar Standing Committee on Cha…
Can a lawyer on salary at a non-lawyer-owned company draft estate-planning documents for the company's customers, and can he have nonlawyers gather the client information?
The Committee concluded a salaried lawyer may prepare estate planning documents for a nonlawyer-owned corporation's customers only if the corporation receives no payment, markup, commission, or profit…
Can a law firm hand a collection agency the client's name, bills, fee agreement, and file to collect unpaid legal fees?
The Committee concluded that a lawyer may not disclose confidential client information to an independent collection agency to collect fees unless the client consents after consultation. Most fee and s…
Can Texas lawyers organize their law practice as a Texas limited liability company?
The Committee concluded they can. It found no provision in the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct that would prohibit two or more attorneys from practicing law as a limited liability com…
Can a Texas lawyer charge a contingent fee to collect past-due child support, and use a power of attorney and escrow account for the recovered money?
The Committee concluded a contingent fee is permissible. Comment 9's concern that contingent fees in divorce discourage reconciliation does not apply because the parties are already divorced, so a rea…
In Kentucky, does a lawyer violate Rule 4.2 when the lawyer's own client talks to the opposing party, and must a divorce mediator check whether participants have counsel?
A lawyer does not necessarily violate Rule 4.2 simply because the client contacts the opposing party, but the lawyer may not use the client to circumvent the rule; and a divorce mediator should ascert…
In Kentucky, may a lawyer charge a contingent fee in a divorce case, in a property-settlement dispute, or to collect arrearages or newly discovered assets?
No contingent fee is allowed in a divorce case or in its property-settlement issues under Rule 1.5(d)(1), but a reasonable contingent fee may be charged to recover liquidated arrearages capable of bei…
Can a Nevada lawyer advertise more than three areas of practice?
The Committee concluded that SCR 198 prohibits advertising more than three designated fields of practice, and that listing more areas violates the rule unless the listing does not imply special traini…
I represent a nonprofit association and have done work for some of its members. May I send each member a letter offering my estate-planning services, or must that letter comply with the solicitation rules under Rule 7.3?
The Panel concluded that because the attorney had a professional relationship with the association but not with each individual member, letters offering services to members are solicitations for pecun…
I took an elderly client pro bono through a volunteer project, and now spending down assets for Medicaid is in play. Can I pay myself for my past services out of those assets even though the work was pro bono?
The Panel concluded that under Rule 1.14, because the client is under a disability, a guardian or conservator should be appointed to determine whether the attorney's proposal to compensate himself wou…
Years ago I drafted a will for Y and a trust for Y's spouse. Now the trust company (my client) is being sued by Y and a remainderman over the trust's investments. Can I defend the trust company against Y?
The Panel concluded that because preparing Y's will was not the same or substantially related to the investment suit, the attorney may represent the trust company against Y and Z, but under Rule 1.9(b…
Do the ethics rules require me to keep closed client files for a set number of years, and do they dictate how I must destroy those records?
The Panel concluded that the Rules of Professional Conduct do not address a file-retention period, but pointed to R.I.G.L. section 8-14-2, which lets an attorney destroy records seven years after a ci…
A former personal-injury client is now suing me over a car accident we were both in, claiming injuries like the ones from the old case. What can I do with the confidential information from my earlier representation?
The Panel concluded that under Rule 1.9(b) the attorney may not use or reveal information obtained in the former representation to the former client's disadvantage, unless that information has become …
My firm wants to refer overdue client accounts to a collection agency, giving it each debtor's name, address, and the amount owed. Do the confidentiality rules allow that?
The Panel concluded that the debtor clients' identity and the amount due may be revealed to a collection agency under Rule 1.6(b)(2), because doing so establishes a claim on behalf of the law firm.
I represented both X and Y, and Y (using a power of attorney I drafted) cashed X's settlement check and kept a third. I've withdrawn from representing Y. May I keep representing X?
The Panel concluded the attorney was not ethically prohibited from continuing to represent X, but that if X sought to assert rights against Y for the money Y withheld, the attorney could not represent…
My clients unreasonably refused a settlement I recommended, then fired me and hired new counsel. Can I claim an attorney's lien equal to my contingent percentage of the offers they turned down?
The Panel advised that, per General Informational Opinion #4, the proper measure of recovery for a discharged lawyer is the reasonable value of services performed before discharge, not the contingent …
Can a lawyer take collections work from a child-support collection agency that keeps a percentage of what is collected, and represent the custodial parent the agency refers?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may represent the agency (and the custodial parent) and may be paid by the agency, but may never split a legal fee with the nonlawyer agency or pay it for soliciting or …
Can an Ohio lawyer who also holds another professional degree or license advertise both, and where?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may indicate a law degree in advertising another profession, and may indicate other degrees or licenses in advertising the law practice, but under DR 2-102(E) a law…
Can a part-time county court judge, or the judge's firm, practice law in the county court where the judge sits by assignment?
The opinion concluded that a part-time county court judge may not practice law in the county court where the judge sits by assignment until the assignment ends, and neither may the judge's partners an…
Can a municipal court deputy bailiff privately own a business that evicts tenants for landlords for a fee?
The opinion concluded that it is improper under Ohio Ethics Law for a municipal court deputy bailiff to privately own a business that evicts tenants for landlords for a fee while serving the court. De…
Can a lawyer for an adverse party speak ex parte with a corporate party's employees, and must those employees have their own counsel first?
The opinion concluded that an adversary's lawyer may communicate ex parte with an organization's employees if the organization's attorney consents; the employees are not required to have independent c…
Can a lawyer skip a client trust account by paying the client from the operating account and depositing settlement proceeds there?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may not avoid a trust account by paying the client's share out of the operating account and then depositing all settlement proceeds into that operating account; the…
Can a lawyer team up with a real estate broker to represent homeowners in tax-grievance proceedings if the lawyer just doesn't tell anyone he's a lawyer?
The opinion concluded no: representing homeowners in tax-review proceedings is the practice of law, so a lawyer may not affiliate with a nonlawyer to do it, and hiding the lawyer's status to evade tha…
Can a lawyer run a nonlaw business that sends nonlawyer agents door-to-door selling will and trust forms and consulting with buyers?
No; the scheme risks the unauthorized practice of law by the agents, prevents the lawyer from protecting confidences and screening conflicts, violates the ban on in-person solicitation, and likely pay…
Can a lawyer refer law clients to a financial-planning business the lawyer owns, and take legal-work referrals back from it?
Yes, if the lawyer discloses the ownership interest, complies with the business-transaction rule, lets the client seek other providers and independent counsel, and keeps independent judgment; but the …
Can a lawyer pay a nonlawyer referral business a percentage of the recovery for sending clients, or a set fee instead?
No to both, on these facts. The opinion concluded that paying a nonlawyer a percentage of the recovery for referrals is improper fee-splitting with a nonlawyer and compensates a nondelegable solicitat…
Do fee-arbitration committee members have to report a lawyer's misconduct they learn about, and does the lawyer's joining arbitration affect that?
The opinion concluded that fee-arbitration committee members who conclude, to a substantial degree of certainty, that a lawyer's conduct violated the rules and raised a substantial question about fitn…
Must a New Jersey lawyer who withdrew from a case disclose to the court that a former client or a witness may have testified falsely?
The Committee concluded the withdrawn lawyer had no obligation to disclose, because the client's confidences were protected by RPC 1.6, the information was not unequivocal, and in a quasi-criminal mat…
When a lawyer serves as a neutral arbitrator or mediator, do the ethics rules require keeping the case files for any set period or notifying the parties before destroying them?
No; because a neutral arbitrator or mediator is not engaged in a representation, the rules' record-retention provisions do not apply, so they impose no specific retention period or notice duty on the …
When a lawyer works for a state agency, is the client the agency itself or its individual officials and employees?
The agency. The opinion concluded that a staff attorney for a state administrative agency represents the agency as a discrete entity under Rule 1.13, owing confidentiality to the agency as a whole and…
What must a lawyer do after receiving an opposing party's privileged documents that were sent by mistake?
The opinion concluded that an attorney who receives confidential documents of an adversary through an inadvertent release is ethically obligated to promptly notify the sender of the receipt, leaving a…
Can a government agency's in-house lawyer tell opposing counsel and an administrative law judge that the agency has jurisdiction when the lawyer knows there is no factual basis for it?
The Committee concluded that knowingly misrepresenting a factual basis for jurisdiction violates Rule 3.03 (candor to a tribunal), Rule 3.01 (no frivolous position), and Rule 4.01 (truthfulness to oth…
Can a lawyer represent a wife in a divorce when the husband had a brief paid consultation with the same lawyer about divorcing her years earlier?
The Committee concluded the lawyer is disqualified. An attorney-client relationship existed from the husband's paid 1986 consultation (the confidentiality duty can attach to one who sought to employ t…
Can a Texas lawyer form a limited liability partnership with nonlawyer professionals like engineers and accountants to share revenue from common clients?
The Committee concluded a lawyer may not. Rule 5.04(b) bars forming a partnership with a nonlawyer if any of the partnership's activities is the practice of law, and Rule 5.04(a) bars sharing legal fe…
Can a lawyer let a creditor use the lawyer's letterhead for debt-collection letters when the lawyer has little involvement with the accounts?
The Committee concluded that using a lawyer's stationery for collection is not improper per se, but the lawyer must exercise independent professional judgment on each account: review the debtor's file…
Can a personal-injury lawyer charge interest on loans to clients, refer clients to his own loan company, and co-own medical facilities his clients use?
The Committee answered all of the questions in the affirmative, but only on the narrow facts and only if none of the cited rules, comments, or prior opinions is violated. The arrangements implicate th…
If a jointly defended co-defendant turns hostile and hints he may change his testimony, can the firm share his recorded statement with the other parties, and must it withdraw?
The Committee concluded the firm may not disclose the former client's transcript to the insurer, the insured, or the other ex-employee. Only if the client actually moves to commit perjury may the firm…
When a law firm employs a nonlawyer lobbyist, are the lobbyist's communications with lobbying clients protected as confidences even if those clients never get legal services?
A firm must make reasonable efforts to protect the lobbyist's client communications to the same extent as lawyer-client communications, because confidentiality duties attach to a firm's nonlawyer empl…
When opening a client trust account, does a lawyer have to shop around for the bank with the best interest rate and lowest fees?
A lawyer must use reasonable care, as any fiduciary would, to select a bank with favorable rates and minimal fees on client trust accounts, but is not required to continually search for the single hig…
Does a bankruptcy debtor's lawyer have to handle a later adversary proceeding, and what must the lawyer do on learning the petition contained false information?
An adversary proceeding falls within the representation unless the agreement unambiguously excludes it, and if the lawyer learns petition information is false and the client won't correct it, the lawy…
Does Alabama follow ABA Formal Opinion 93-379 on how lawyers may bill for fees, disbursements, and expenses?
The opinion concluded that ABA Formal Opinion 93-379 correctly states the rule for Alabama lawyers on billing for professional fees, disbursements, and other expenses, and it incorporated that ABA opi…
Can a title company owned by a bank prepare closing documents and charge for them using in-house attorneys, and have nonlawyer branch staff conduct the closings?
The opinion concluded that legal documents may be prepared only by or under the direct supervision of licensed attorneys, but if the company charges for that legal work it engages in the unauthorized …
When a former client asks for the file, does the lawyer have to hand over the lawyer's own title notes, and can the lawyer charge for copies of documents the client already received?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer's personal title notes are work product the lawyer need not release, and that the lawyer may charge a former client for additional copies of documents already deliv…
Can the lawyer appointed to represent a minor in a friendly suit to approve an injury settlement be paid directly by the defendant's liability insurer?
Yes. The opinion concluded that Rule 5.6 lets a lawyer be paid by a third party such as the liability insurer if the client consents after full disclosure, the lawyer's independent judgment is not imp…
Can a firm with an hourly-rate fee contract raise its rates during the engagement without getting the client's consent to the increase?
The opinion declined to construe the fee contract as a question of law, but held that a lawyer may renegotiate a fee for changed circumstances or good cause without abandoning or threatening to abando…
Can lawyers settle a patient's civil claim against a therapist on the condition that the patient agree not to report the therapist to the licensing board?
No. The opinion concluded that it is unethical for either party's lawyer to take part in resolving a civil claim of a therapist's sexual misconduct where the settlement is conditioned on the complaini…
Can Michigan lawyers organize their firm as a professional limited liability company, and what must they call it and disclose to clients?
The opinion concluded lawyers may form a professional limited liability company whose name must contain 'Professional Limited Liability Company,' 'P.L.L.C.,' or 'P.L.C.'; the form does not limit the p…
Can a lawyer who handled a man's first divorce later represent his second wife against him in their divorce, where both involve child-custody issues?
Not without the former client's consent. The opinion concluded the two divorces are substantially related, so Rule 1.9 disqualifies the lawyer from representing the second wife against the former clie…
Can a lawyer suing a government agency present the client's settlement position directly to the agency's governing board without the agency lawyer's consent?
No. The opinion concluded that an attorney representing a party may not communicate about pending litigation directly with a government official or body having decision-making authority over that liti…
Can a law firm let clients pay legal fees by borrowing from an independent finance company that pays the firm at least 90% of the amount borrowed?
The Committee concluded the arrangement is not prohibited and is a finance arrangement, not fee-splitting, because the finance corporation neither solicits clients nor performs legal services, so reta…
When a California law firm dissolves and holds closed-matter files for years-old former-client matters with no agreement governing disposition, must the firm attempt to notify former clients before destroying the files, and what minimum retention period applies?
The opinion concluded that the dissolved firm must use all reasonable means to contact former clients about retrieving their files. After diligent notice with sufficient time elapsed, the firm may des…
In Kentucky, may a lawyer or firm that does civil contract work for a city department defend criminal cases arising in that city?
Yes. The opinion concluded that occasional civil contract work for a city, unlike serving as the city attorney, does not by itself disqualify a lawyer or firm from criminal defense in that city, unles…
In Kentucky, may a lawyer referral service require member attorneys to document the total settlement in contingency cases, and may attorneys comply?
Yes to both. The opinion concluded the referral service may require truthful fee reporting and verification, and lawyers may comply, subject to honoring client-consent obligations and any settlement-c…
Can an estate-planning lawyer hire nonlawyer financial planners as contractors to gather client data and help prepare documents?
The opinion concluded that an estate-planning lawyer's use of nonlawyer financial planners and investment advisors as independent contractors, paid hourly to give free consultations gathering data for…
Can a lawyer represent someone who decides to hire the lawyer after attending the lawyer's seminar presentation?
The opinion concluded that yes, a lawyer may accept as a client a person who chooses to consult the lawyer as a result of attending the lawyer's presentation at a seminar or other educational or clien…
Can a law firm mail written invitations to a law-office open house to local business owners it has no prior relationship with?
The opinion concluded that yes, a firm may send written invitations to a law-office open house to members of the public, including neighboring business owners. Relying on Shapero v. Kentucky Bar Assoc…
If a lawyer raises the hourly rate on a referred case so the increase can be paid to the referring lawyer, must the client be told?
The opinion concluded that yes, in every case the client must be told that the receiving lawyer's hourly fee was increased because of the referral. The committee treated the arrangement as a division …
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.