Nebraska Supreme Court Lawyers' Advisory Committee Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Nebraska Supreme Court Lawyers' Advisory Committee, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Could a Nebraska lawyer use a contingent fee to collect unpaid child support or alimony?
Yes. The opinion permitted a contingent fee for collecting accrued, unpaid support or alimony regardless of who proposed it or whether the client could pay a fixed fee.
Could a Nebraska lawyer stamp the lawyer's contact information on bar-association legal pamphlets?
This 1978 opinion said no under former DR 2-102(A), but the official archive flags it as rescinded in part by Opinion 89-7 after the advertising rule changed.
Could a Nebraska lawyer represent a corporation in an investigation related to two former clients?
Yes on the facts then presented, because no conflict yet prohibited the work and the former clients expressly approved it, but their confidences remained protected.
What work could a temporarily suspended Nebraska lawyer perform under Opinion 78-5?
The opinion barred law-related work but allowed a non-law office used for unrelated activities. Opinion 96-1 later modified its categorical treatment of paralegal work.
Could a Nebraska law firm's name include a partner admitted only in another state?
Yes. The firm could use the same name across jurisdictions if its letterhead and listings clearly disclosed each lawyer's licensing limitations.
Could a Nebraska deputy county attorney defend a criminal accused by court appointment?
Not when other qualified defense lawyers were available. The opinion recognized an exception when no qualified lawyer other than the deputy could represent the accused.
Could a Nebraska public defender disclose a client's confidential admission of nonindigency or withdraw on that basis?
No. On the stated facts, the information concerned possible past conduct, remained confidential, and could not support disclosure or a withdrawal request that revealed it.
Could a full-time Nebraska lawyer own or manage a legal-education consulting company with nonlawyers?
No. The committee concluded that the company would practice law and that the lawyer's participation as a partner, owner, director, or officer was prohibited.
Could a Nebraska lawyer participate in a newspaper interview with photographs?
Yes, if the article stayed within permitted newsworthy information, avoided disguised commercial-advertising details and false or self-laudatory claims, and the lawyer gave the reporter nothing of value.
Could a Nebraska lawyer let a tax preparer advertise that the lawyer would help with returns and related problems?
No on the stated facts. The opinion treated the broad announcement as using the lawyer's counseling to solicit work that could extend into legal advice delivered through the nonlawyer preparer.
Which private matters conflicted with serving as executive director of Nebraska's county-attorneys association?
The opinion barred four categories involving county attorneys or the state, subject to a court appointment only when the court found no feasible alternative.
Could a Nebraska lawyer unilaterally begin charging interest on overdue legal fees after notice?
No. The opinion allowed interest only when the client requested more time and agreed to the interest rate and payment terms.
Could a Nebraska law firm use different firm-name variations at offices in different cities or states?
Yes, if each named lawyer was actually a partner and the variation was not false, misleading, or deceptive.
Could a Nebraska lawyer print a credit-card acceptance notice on client billing statements under Opinion 77-2?
This opinion said no, treating the notice as prohibited credit-card publicity, but Opinion 81-2 later rescinded it and permitted a statement insert under specified conditions.
Could a Nebraska lawyer give title opinions to both a buyer and lender and later handle a foreclosure?
Yes with the buyer's consent, and later for either side only if title and lien validity were not disputed and no concurrent-client or other conflict existed.
Could a Nebraska lawyer defend a friend against an assault complaint made by the lawyer's former client?
Yes, where the former matter was wholly unrelated, but the lawyer still had to preserve all information obtained from the former client.
Could a Nebraska lawyer join a sports-management corporation that marketed legal and management services to professional athletes?
No. The proposed company intertwined legal work with solicitation, referrals, a feeder business, and possible nonlawyer ownership and fee sharing.
Could a Nebraska title lawyer charge a real-estate seller for corrective title work requested through the lender?
Only if the seller employed the lawyer directly or through the lender. Without that contractual relationship, the lawyer had no fee claim against the seller.
Could a Nebraska county attorney prosecute a murder trial after helping obtain a confession about which the attorney might testify?
No. Because the county attorney ought to be a witness on voluntariness, the opinion required disqualification from participating in the prosecution.
Could a Nebraska lawyer announce availability to perform legal research for other lawyers?
Yes. The lawyer could use oral notices, cards, annual mailings, and legal-journal notices, but could not claim specialization or special competence.
Was a Nebraska appointed defense lawyer disqualified because the lawyer's city-council spouse advocated strict drug-law enforcement?
No. If appointed by the district judge, the lawyer had no Code conflict based on the spouse's city-council role and enforcement position.
Could a Nebraska lawyer contact a represented public institution's administrators or board directly to collect a judgment?
No, while the institution's lawyer remained active. Direct contact required counsel's consent, legal authorization, or termination of the attorney-client relationship.
Could a Nebraska divorce lawyer take the husband's unilateral home mortgage to secure future fees?
No. The opinion found the mortgage probably illegal without the wife's signature and a prohibited proprietary and financial interest in the litigation.
Could a Nebraska county attorney prosecute a former divorce adversary for nonsupport arising from that case?
No. The opinion directed the county board to employ a special prosecutor because the charge arose from the same divorce in which the county attorney had represented the wife.
Could a Nebraska county attorney privately represent a client in claims adverse to a state land board?
No. The opinion held that the county attorney's statutory duty to the state was paramount and required declining the adverse private representation.
Under this rescinded Nebraska opinion, could a lawyer contract with a federal credit union to offer limited-fee consultations to members?
The opinion said yes if the arrangement met former DR 2-103(D)(4) and publicity was limited, but Nebraska Opinion 86-2 rescinded it.
Could Nebraska lawyers receive additional Yellow Pages listings organized by sub-geographic area?
Yes, if all lawyers in the metropolitan area were included; a sub-geographic listing limited to only some lawyers was not appropriate.
Could a Nebraska lawyer use a reasonable contingent fee to represent the plaintiff in a contested paternity case?
Yes. The opinion distinguished paternity support from divorce alimony and property settlements and found a reasonable contingent fee proper.
Could a Nebraska lawyer mail new-office announcements and hold an open house after relocating within the community?
Yes. Brief announcement cards could go to specified personal and professional contacts, and an open house could be limited to clients and lawyers.
Could a Nebraska lawyer accept a credit card for earned fees and advanced expenses under the rules applied in 1975?
Yes, subject to the opinion's restrictions on publicity, fee increases, unearned retainers, client confidences, and interest charges. The opinion rescinded Nebraska Opinion 72-2.
Could Nebraska lawyers call their practice a 'Legal Clinic' instead of identifying it by the lawyers' names?
No. The opinion required lawyer-name identification and treated 'Legal Clinic' as trade-name surplusage and additional advertising.
Could a Nebraska county attorney, deputy, partner, or associate defend a person charged under state criminal law?
No. The opinion treated the state, county, and public as the county attorney's clients and imputed the prosecution conflict to deputies and firm lawyers.
Could a former Nebraska assistant city prosecutor defend and bring civil-rights claims over an arrest made during the lawyer's tenure?
No. The lawyer's former duty to the city and access to arrest information created a conflict and appearance of impropriety in both matters.
Could a Nebraska lawyer be listed as legal counsel on a chamber of commerce letterhead for occasional unpaid advice?
No. The opinion allowed such a client-stationery designation only when the lawyer devoted substantial professional time to the representation.
Could a Nebraska lawyer who was a partner in an accounting firm also perform legal work through that firm?
No. The lawyer could maintain a separate, independent law practice, but the opinion treated the lawyer's accounting activities as subject to the Code of Professional Responsibility.
Could a Nebraska lawyer serving as a county commissioner defend criminal cases prosecuted by that county?
No. Because the county board acted on the county attorney's budget, the opinion found a potential conflict and an appearance of impropriety in opposing that office in criminal cases.
Could a Nebraska county attorney or the attorney's partner represent a landowner in a state condemnation proceeding?
Not when the land was in the county attorney's own county, including negotiations before filing; appointing special counsel did not remove the prohibition. The opinion found no conflict for…
Could a Nebraska county attorney also represent school districts, cities, or villages?
Yes, when the governmental clients' interests did not conflict and adequate multiple representation was obvious after full disclosure and consent. The lawyer had to withdraw if an actual conflict…
Under this 1975 Nebraska opinion, could a lawyer or bar group publicize the lawyer's attendance at a legal-education seminar?
No. The opinion barred lawyer-arranged publicity and said bar organizations should not identify lawyers who merely attended seminars.
Did sharing office space impute one Nebraska lawyer's ethical disqualification to an otherwise separate lawyer?
Yes. The opinion treated office-sharing lawyers as sufficiently close that one could not accept a representation ethically unavailable to the other.
Could a Nebraska lawyer serving as a legislator, county commissioner, or city council member continue private practice?
Yes, subject to limits on official influence, matters reviewable by the lawyer's public body, and statutory conflicts; the limits extended to associates and office sharers.
Could a Nebraska lawyer participate in a public legal seminar sponsored by a for-profit organization?
Yes, if education was the clear principal purpose. The lawyer could not join a seminar meant to sell the sponsor's products or give audience members specific legal advice.
Could a Nebraska lawyer or firm represent an estate whose executor was the bank where the lawyer served as vice-president and trust officer?
No. The committee treated trust-officer work as inseparable from legal advice on estates, taxation, and trusts and barred the representation.
Did an estate lawyer have to leave a probate matter after becoming a witness in a separate will-construction case?
No. After other counsel brought the separate construction action, the opinion allowed the lawyer to continue representing the executor in the distinct probate proceeding.
Could a Nebraska lawyer coauthor a general estate-planning article with a nonlawyer for a public magazine?
Yes, if the office address was omitted and the lawyer did not answer individual questions, present himself as available, or accept related employment shortly afterward.
Could a Nebraska local bar operate a weekly on-campus lawyer referral service for college students?
Yes, under four stated safeguards: limited civil advice, neutral roster referrals for substantial matters, removal of the consulting lawyer's firm, and no criminal advice beyond referral or…
Could Nebraska firm lawyers defend a partner accused of breaching duties as a corporate director when the partner would testify?
Yes, provided the defense lawyers complied with the ethics code. The opinion lacked enough surrounding facts to decide whether separate conflicts or obligations involving the corporation or firm…
What private civil and criminal matters could a Nebraska city attorney accept under Opinion 74-5?
Civil work was allowed unless it opposed the city or involved a matter the lawyer might prosecute or officially investigate. Criminal defense was generally barred, subject to court approval or the…
Could a Nebraska lawyer lease courtroom and office space for use by a county judge before whom the lawyer practiced?
The lawyer should not lease directly to the judge, but could lease the space to the county board even when the county intended the judge to use it.
Could a Nebraska lawyer also work as a real-estate broker or clerk a client's property auction?
Yes, if the lawyer complied with the entire ethics code while doing the law-related work. Auction employment had to come from the client, with no fee division, auctioneer control, or continuing…
Could a Nebraska city or village prosecutor voluntarily defend a person charged with a crime?
Only if the court handling the criminal case entered an order approving the employment. The opinion otherwise retained its prohibition on voluntary criminal defense by a city or village prosecutor.
Could a Nebraska county attorney or firm represent a client in a divorce involving children in another county?
Yes. The opinion found that the child-support prosecution concern behind its same-county prohibition could not arise when the divorce was in a different county.
Could an estate lawyer also represent former spouses whose claims depended on defeating the estate's position in a foreclosure?
No. The lawyer could represent devisees whose interests aligned with the executor, but could not also represent former spouses whose recovery depended on the estate losing its title claim.
Could a Nebraska county attorney or the attorney's firm represent a party in a divorce involving minor children?
Only if the county board adopted a general permitting policy and agreed to fund an independent special prosecutor for any later nonsupport case. The county attorney could not prosecute either…
Could a Nebraska lawyer manage a bank, sell insurance there, and maintain a separate law office in the same community?
Yes, if the businesses did not feed legal work to the firm, bank and insurance customers received no legal services there, and business advertising never identified the person as a lawyer.
Could a creditor's lawyer demand more from an unrepresented wage debtor than garnishment law allowed in return for release?
No. When the debtor did not know about available statutory exemptions, the lawyer could not condition immediate release on payment exceeding what the garnishment process could recover.
Could the Nebraska bar use local lawyer representatives to distribute publicity about bar programs and lawyers' civic activities?
Yes, for bar programs and public or citizenship activities unrelated to specific legal services. Representatives could not handle releases involving themselves or publish material advertising…
Could a Nebraska lawyer prepare zoning regulations for a nonlawyer planner and join or promote the planner's business?
The lawyer could be paid separately for legal services, but could not split fees, own the planning venture, promote its projects, or perform the legal work in a state where the lawyer was not admitted.
Could a former corporate lawyer represent a bank suing the dissolved corporation and its individual guarantors?
No. The lawyer and firm had to withdraw even without prior knowledge of the particular loan because the adverse engagement implicated duties to the former corporation and individual clients.
Could a Nebraska lawyer let a credit-bureau client fill factual blanks in form debt-collection petitions?
Yes. The lawyer drafted the form, reviewed and signed each completed petition, prepared other pleadings, made court appearances, and retained complete professional responsibility.
Browse Nebraska Supreme Court Lawyers' Advisory Committee opinions by topic
Legal ethics opinions from the Nebraska Supreme Court Lawyers' Advisory Committee interpret the rules of professional conduct for working lawyers, in response to inquiries from members and committees. They are advisory, 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.