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 nonprofit Nebraska student senate retain a lawyer for the organization and individual student members?
Yes, if individual legal service was incidental to the senate's primary purpose, the senate gained no financial benefit, and each student receiving services was treated as the client free from…
Could a Nebraska county attorney appear in the same court as private counsel in an unrelated civil matter?
Yes, if the civil matter was wholly disconnected from official duties and outside statutory and ethics restrictions. The same limitations applied to deputies and members of the county attorney's firm.
Could a lawyer who represented a husband in a custody dispute later defend the wife against a charge of killing him?
No. The criminal charge arose from the same custody dispute, the husband's confidences survived his death, the lawyer might become a witness, and the committee found an obvious appearance of impropriety.
Could a Nebraska firm hire a legal secretary who voluntarily left a competing firm?
Opinion 73-14 said yes if the new firm protected the former firm's client confidences and had not solicited the employee. Opinion 94-4 later limited this result for same-or-substantially-related…
Could a wife's divorce lawyer also defend a third party sued by the husband over the same relationship?
Yes, under the facts stated, when the wife consented after full disclosure, wanted the lawyer to undertake the defense, and the lawyer could obviously represent both interests adequately.
What did Nebraska Opinion 73-12 require court-appointed counsel to do when a criminal defendant insisted on testifying falsely?
After every reasonable effort to dissuade the client, the 1973 opinion required appointed counsel to permit the testimony if the client persisted. It also said counsel could not disclose the…
Could Nebraska lawyers who only shared office expenses use a joint partnership-style firm name?
No. Lawyers who did not share partnership responsibility and liability could not use a combined firm name on their door, letterhead, directory listing, telephone greeting, or elsewhere.
Could former Nebraska legal-aid lawyers temporarily work part time for legal aid while starting private practice?
Yes, for the proposed temporary period, if they did not accept legal-aid or referral-service applicants as private clients, stayed off the referral panel, and preserved independent judgment.
Could a Nebraska firm notify city and village attorneys that it was available to assist with ordinance revision and codification?
Yes. The committee approved the dignified announcement addressed only to municipal lawyers, under the former rule allowing consultant or associate notices to other lawyers.
Could a Nebraska lawyer sell an income-tax practice and its clients to another lawyer or nonlawyer?
No under this 1972 opinion. It treated the tax work as law practice, rejected the sale and client notices, barred percentage compensation to a nonlawyer secretary, and protected client choice and…
Could a part-time Nebraska county attorney represent a client's estate after a fatal crash the attorney did not investigate?
Yes on the stated facts: the attorney did not conduct the investigation, no prosecution was possible, the decedent was a regular client, and opposing counsel did not object.
Could a Nebraska law firm continue using a deceased partner's name in its firm name and letterhead?
Yes, if the use did not mislead the public and neither statute nor local custom prohibited it. The committee knew of no such Nebraska prohibition or custom.
Could a Nebraska lawyer who owned or operated an insurance-adjusting agency also maintain a separate law practice?
Only under strict separation. The lawyer could not serve insurers that used or might use the agency or represent a claimant whose matter arose from or related to agency work.
Could a Nebraska lawyer own a local insurance-claims adjusting business while engaging in general law practice?
No. The opinion found that claims adjustment readily generated legal work and indirect solicitation; incorporation and withdrawal as an officer or director did not cure continued ownership.
Could a Nebraska county judge continue preparing income-tax returns while holding judicial office?
No. The opinion treated the judge's tax work as law practice and found it incompatible with the judicial canons' restrictions and appearance-of-impropriety standard.
Did Nebraska Opinion 72-2 allow lawyers to accept credit-card payment of legal fees?
No unless the bar approved and participated in the plan, but Nebraska Opinion 75-1 later expressly rescinded this conclusion and permitted credit cards under stated safeguards.
Could a Nebraska firm continue using the name of a partner who retired from practicing law?
Yes, under the same conditions governing a deceased partner's name, if local law and custom allowed it and the use was not deceptive. A withdrawing lawyer who continued practicing had to be removed…
Did Nebraska's prohibition on criminal defense by municipal prosecutors apply when a court appointed the lawyer?
No. The committee limited Opinion 72-13 to voluntary defense engagements and concluded that its restriction did not bind a court appointing counsel for an accused person.
Could a Nebraska city or village attorney who prosecuted local offenses voluntarily defend a criminal accused elsewhere?
No. The opinion barred voluntary criminal defense in any court when the municipal lawyer's duties included prosecuting ordinances or state statutes, because the dual role created an appearance of…
Could a Nebraska lawyer's name appear as a sponsor of a charitable, church, or other community event?
Yes, if the announcement did not identify the sponsor as a lawyer or include the lawyer's business address. The opinion allowed but did not encourage the practice.
Could a Nebraska lawyer who also worked as an abstracter identify as a lawyer in abstracting trade advertisements?
No. The opinion treated identifying the abstracter as a lawyer in trade-journal or similar advertising as prohibited commercial publicity, with no applicable exception.
Could a Nebraska firm publish a local newspaper notice announcing that another lawyer had joined it?
No. The opinion treated the proposed public notice as commercial publicity prohibited by former DR 2-101(B), and found no relevant exception.
Could a Nebraska county attorney represent a private client in an inheritance-tax determination?
Yes for a county under 5,000 people, if the county board first appointed special counsel to represent the county and state. Notice to or approval by the county board without appointment was insufficient.
Could a Nebraska lawyer keep a client's original will in safekeeping?
Yes, with the client's express permission or at the client's express request. The lawyer had to identify, safeguard, record, and deliver client property as required by the former rule.
Could a former ward's lawyer defend the guardian against the original petitioner's removal proceeding?
No. The ward had never discharged the lawyer and could no longer do so, and defending the guardian might oppose the ward's interests in the same issue addressed during the guardianship.
Could a Nebraska lawyer lease a branch law office from a county judge before whom the lawyer regularly practiced?
No. Although the lease was not facially improper or expressly prohibited, the business relationship connected to law practice could create public suspicion about the judge's impartiality.
Could a county attorney prosecute a corporate officer for stealing trade secrets from a corporation the attorney represented privately?
No. The county attorney's private representation of the corporation and its chief officer could influence prosecutorial discretion in a case centered on that corporate client's files and interests.
Could a Nebraska county attorney's firm represent a party in a divorce involving minor children?
Opinion 71-2 said no because later neglect or nonsupport prosecutions could conflict with the private representation. Opinions 74-1 and 74-12 later created county-policy and out-of-county exceptions.
Could a firm continue a criminal defendant's Nebraska Supreme Court case after a firm member became county attorney?
Yes while the Attorney General handled the purely legal constitutional issue and no client confidences were material. The firm would have to withdraw if the case returned for rearrest and further…
Could a Nebraska lawyer's letterhead or promissory-note form identify the lawyer's real-estate, abstracting, loan, or insurance businesses?
No. The opinion barred a practicing lawyer from specifying other occupations on letterhead, promissory-note forms, or any other written material.
Could nonresident lawyers join a Nebraska firm or maintain a Nebraska office while principally practicing in another state?
Yes if a true partnership existed, Nebraska clients received diligent and competent service, and every non-Nebraska admission limit was clearly disclosed. A lawyer not admitted in Nebraska could not…
Could a Nebraska lawyer list a home telephone number with the lawyer's individual office listing?
Yes under the individual alphabetical listing, but partners' and associates' home numbers could not be listed as alternates beneath the firm name.
Could a Nebraska lawyer share office space and overhead with life-insurance representatives?
Yes when the only lawyer benefit was reduced overhead, the businesses stayed separate, the insurer did not recommend the lawyer, and the lawyer received no insurance commissions.
Could a Nebraska lawyer who witnessed a testator's will act as counsel in litigation over that or another will?
No when the lawyer's testimony was material. The lawyer could witness the will and later testify about execution, but had to leave contested will litigation to other counsel.
When did Nebraska Opinion 69-1 treat a municipal judge as an active candidate for nonjudicial office?
The judge became an active mayoral candidate after publicly considering the race and sanctioning circulation of qualifying petitions. Judicial Canon 30 then required resignation from judicial office.
Could a Nebraska patent-law firm announce a new office and a registered patent attorney's association?
Yes through a brief, dignified notice to local lawyers and local legal journals, but the firm had to describe its practice as limited rather than claim it was 'specializing.'
Could a Nebraska legal-aid society place city-bus posters telling people unable to afford counsel how to contact it?
Yes, if the posters were dignified and named no individual lawyer. The message could identify the society, its purpose, address, and telephone number.
Could a Nebraska lawyer sell casualty or similar insurance from a law office?
Yes under this 1968 opinion, but not life insurance, and only without advertising when both practices were too small to support separate offices and the business did not feed legal work.
Would the Nebraska advisory committee opine on another lawyer's completed conduct that could become a disciplinary charge?
No. The committee limited advisory opinions to a lawyer's own contemplated conduct and avoided completed acts, other lawyers' conduct, pending questions, and matters likely to reach it on…
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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.