Can a group of lawyers own a corporation that investigates the backgrounds of prospective jurors and sells the service to other lawyers?

Plain-English summary

A group of lawyers wished to buy a corporation providing a "Select-a-Jury" service. As described to the committee, no more than fifteen legal entities (a single practitioner, partnership, or professional association each) would purchase, wholly own, and control the corporation. The service would investigate the general backgrounds of prospective jurors by means other than personal confrontation, applying one uniform investigative criterion to everyone investigated, with no "special orders" tailored to discovering a juror's likely views on issues in future litigation. No Florida Bar member would act as an investigator. A managing agent would run the service day to day, with overall control in a board composed of the ownership, and the service would be available to any bar member at standard rates fixed in advance.

The committee saw no ethical impropriety per se in the lawyers' purchase of the corporation under those circumstances. It cautioned, however, that the sensitive nature of the subject matter is such that the service would have to be managed with the utmost care to avoid unethical conduct.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1973, before The Florida Bar's adoption of the 2006 revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct. It applied the former Code of Professional Responsibility, which has since been replaced. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific requirement mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Could a group of lawyers own a corporation that investigates prospective jurors?

A: Under this opinion, yes. The committee found no ethical impropriety per se in the ownership arrangement as described.

Q: What conditions framed the committee's conclusion?

A: The arrangement described a fixed ownership group, a single uniform investigative criterion with no case-specific "special orders," no bar member acting as an investigator, and standard fees fixed in advance for any bar member.

Q: Did the committee give the arrangement an unqualified blessing?

A: No. It stressed that the sensitive subject matter required the service to be managed with the utmost care to avoid unethical conduct.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied the former Code of Professional Responsibility to a proposed lawyer-owned business serving other lawyers. In current practice, a lawyer's ownership of a business that provides services related to legal practice corresponds to the rules on law-related (nonlawyer) services, Model Rule 5.7 and Florida Rule 4-5.7.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• The opinion did not cite specific Code provisions.

See also

No sibling opinions yet indexed.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.floridabar.org/etopinions/etopinion-73-20/
• Original PDF: https://www-media.floridabar.org/uploads/2017/04/FL-Bar-Ethics-Op-73-20-1-1.pdf

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

FLORIDA BAR ETHICS OPINION
OPINION 73-20
October 8, 1973
Advisory ethics opinions are not binding.
If utmost care is taken to avoid unethical conduct, lawyers may own a corporation that investigates prospective jurors for a set fee for members of The Florida Bar.
Vice Chairman Daniels stated the opinion of the committee:
A group of lawyers desire to buy a corporation which provides a Select-a-Jury service. The inquiring lawyers ask if they may ethically:
Form a group of not more than fifteen legal entities (entity defined as a single practitioner, partnership, or professional association) to purchase and wholly own and control a corporation formed for the purpose of providing a "jury service." This service would investigate the general background of prospective jurors in the community by means other than personal confrontation of the prospective jurors. No member of The Florida Bar would act as an investigator and one single investigative criteria would be set and followed in regard to all persons investigated; there could be no "special orders" on particular cases with regard to the additional acquiring of information, calculated to discover a prospective juror's likely views on particular issues to be raised in future litigation. The Service would be operated on a day-to-day basis by a managing agent but overall control would be reposited in a Board of Directors or other similar body composed of ownership. The services provided would be available for purchase by any member of The Florida Bar at standard rates fixed in advance by the Board of Directors.
The Committee sees no ethical impropriety per se in the purchase of the corporation by the inquiring lawyers under the above quoted circumstances. However, the sensitive nature of the subject matter is such that the service will have to be managed with the utmost care to avoid unethical conduct.