May a practicing attorney also run an insurance agency, and how must he advertise it?

Plain-English summary

The Committee was asked whether it is proper for a practicing attorney also to conduct an insurance agency.

The Committee concluded that conducting an insurance business violates no rule or principle of legal ethics, provided care is exercised to keep the two lines of business separate and apart so that neither is used as a means of procuring business for the other. It noted that Advisory Opinion No. 48 reached the same conclusion as to a lawyer writing fire insurance: that doing so is not condemned by any accepted standard, provided it is done with due observance of the standard of conduct required of a member of the bar, and provided he does not use the business, or the fact that he is a member of the bar, to obtain insurance business. The Committee added that the attorney should not advertise himself as an attorney in connection with any advertising of his insurance agency, and the advertising should be in such form as to avoid the implication that it is a solicitation of employment as a lawyer.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1950, under the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics and decades before Oklahoma adopted the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct (1988) and the later Ethics 2000 revisions. The concerns about a lawyer's outside business, advertising, and law-related services are now addressed in the modern rules on professional independence, advertising, and law-related services (Model Rules 7.1 through 7.3 and 5.7 and their Oklahoma counterparts). Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Could a lawyer run an insurance agency at all?

A: Yes. The Committee found that conducting an insurance business violates no rule or principle of legal ethics, subject to conditions.

Q: What were the conditions?

A: Keep the two businesses separate so neither feeds the other, and do not advertise himself as an attorney in connection with the insurance agency or in a way implying solicitation of legal employment.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied the general principle that a lawyer may conduct a separate lay business so long as neither calling is used to obtain business for the other, and that insurance advertising must not hold the lawyer out as an attorney or imply solicitation of legal employment. It relied on Oklahoma Advisory Opinion No. 48. It predates the Model Rules and made no Model Rule citation.

Citations and references

Other opinions cited:

• Oklahoma Advisory Opinion No. 48 (Advisory Opinions, p. 96): a lawyer may write fire insurance while practicing, with due observance of lawyer standards and without using either calling to obtain business for the other.

See also

• Okla. Bar Ethics Op. 146: Attorney advertising his casualty-adjuster services
• Okla. Bar Ethics Op. 48: Lawyer writing fire insurance while practicing
• Okla. Bar Ethics Op. 145: Practicing lawyer also running an abstract business

Source

• Landing page: https://www.okbar.org/ethics/ethics-opinion-no-147/

Original opinion text

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

Adopted June 14, 1950

QUERY

Is it proper for a practicing attorney to also conduct an insurance agency?

ANSWER

It is the opinion of the committee that the conducting of an insurance business by a practicing attorney violates no rule or principle of legal ethics provided care is exercised to keep the two lines of business separate and apart so that neither business will be used as a means of procuring business for the other. It is pointed out by the committee that the same conclusion was reached in Opinion No. 48, Page 96, Advisory Opinions of the State Bar of Oklahoma, wherein it was stated:

"The writing of fire insurance by a lawyer while in the active practice, is not, in the opinion of the Board, condemned by any accepted standard in this country, provided it is done with due observance of the standard of conduct required of him as a member of the bar; and provided that he not use the business; nor the fact that he is a member of the bar to obtain insurance business."

The committee is of the further opinion that the attorney should not advertise himself as an attorney in connection with any of the advertising of his insurance agency and the advertising should be in such form as to avoid the implication that it is a solicitation of employment as a lawyer.