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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When a North Carolina lawyer serves as executor or otherwise handles an estate account, when do the Rule 1.15 trust-accounting rules apply and what reviews are required?
Rule 1.15 governs an estate account to the extent the lawyer controls it. A lawyer with signatory authority must run it as a designated fiduciary account and perform the monthly and quarterly reviews;…
If a lawyer is personally a party in a case, can the lawyer talk directly to the represented opposing party without going through that party's attorney?
It depends on whether the lawyer is representing himself or herself. The opinion concludes that a lawyer who appears pro se is 'representing a client' and so is barred by Rule 4.2 from contacting the …
Can a solo principal call the firm 'A & Associates' when the only other lawyers are 'of counsel'?
Yes. A firm with one principal and two properly designated 'of counsel' lawyers may call itself 'A & Associates,' because 'of counsel' lawyers are 'associated' with the firm, so long as those lawyers …
Can a law firm sponsor parties, sporting events, or raffles to promote its name?
Yes. Sponsoring receptions, sporting events, and raffles is permissible branding outside the advertising rules if the primary purpose is name recognition. The firm may not use those occasions for in-p…
Can a lawyer who is also a CPA make unsolicited cold calls offering accounting services that overlap with legal work?
No. When the accounting services are not distinct from the lawyer's legal services, Rule 5.7(a)(1) makes all the Rules apply, including Rule 7.3's ban on in-person and telephone solicitation of strang…
Can a divorce lawyer's retainer authorize charging the client's credit card for bills left unpaid?
The committee cannot say; it turns on a question of law. Rule 1.5(d)(2) bars a fee prohibited by law or court rule, and whether a credit-card authorization is a 'security interest' under 22 NYCRR 1400…
Can an Ohio court set up and fund a self-help clinic staffed by appointed lawyers for self-represented litigants, and what duties do those lawyers owe?
The opinion concluded that a court may establish and fund a self-help center and appoint and compensate lawyers to give limited scope assistance to self-represented litigants, as long as the court kee…
May a lawyer who took custody of another lawyer's client files solicit those clients for legal work?
Yes. A lawyer who holds a prior lawyer's client files only as a custodian, not through a sale of practice, may offer legal services to those clients if the lawyer reviews the files only as needed to f…
What are a Utah local counsel's duties when the lead lawyer is admitted pro hac vice and wants local counsel to do as little as possible?
The opinion concludes that serving as local counsel is not a perfunctory role; under Rule 5.1 local counsel must supervise the pro hac vice attorney, provide Utah-law expertise, and remains responsibl…
After a client dies, can the lawyer who drafted the will disclose the client's confidential information to family or the personal representative?
Usually not. The opinion concludes the duty of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege survive a client's death, so a lawyer ordinarily may not disclose protected information to family membe…
Can a lawyer suing the government contact a represented government official directly to discuss settlement or policy?
Yes, within limits. The opinion permits a lawyer to contact a represented government decision-maker about policy related to the litigation, including settlement, but only after giving the government's…
Can a Maine lawyer view or request access to the social media of opposing parties, jurors, and judges?
Yes for public content. A lawyer may view publicly available social media of represented parties, jurors, and judges, but may not request access to the private portions of a represented party's or a j…
What confidentiality and competence duties apply when a California lawyer discusses a client matter on social media, including blogs and online discussion boards?
A lawyer must take reasonable steps to avoid revealing client information through online posts, even when the client is unnamed; aggregated posts plus pretexting may identify the client and waive work…
Can a New York lawyer subpoena a current client for evidence in another client's lawsuit?
Ordinarily not without consent. Subpoenaing a current client on behalf of another client usually creates a Rule 1.7 conflict that requires informed written consent from both clients; absent that, the …
I represent a former city employee suing the city. Can I also serve as legal counsel to that city's council without a conflict of interest?
The panel concluded it is a conflict under Rule 1.7 to represent a client suing the city and also serve as counsel to the city council, because the lawyer would be directly adverse to a current client…
Can a New York lawyer pay Avvo Legal Services' marketing fee to participate in the program?
No. Avvo's marketing fee is an improper payment for a recommendation under Rule 7.2(a). By advertising its ratings as identifying 'the right' lawyer, touting participants as 'highly qualified,' and ba…
Can a lawyer pay a for-profit online service a flat fee for leads to potential clients?
Yes. A lawyer may pay a for-profit lead service for client leads if the service picks lawyers by transparent, mechanical methods, does not analyze the client's problem or recommend any lawyer, and its…
Can a court hire someone who also works for a nonprofit treatment center under contract with the court, and can court staff fundraise for that nonprofit?
The opinion concluded that, under the Ohio Ethics Law, a court may not employ a person simultaneously employed by a nonprofit drug treatment center that contracts with the court, unless a statutory ex…
Can a Kentucky lawyer provide limited-scope ('unbundled') services and ghostwrite pleadings for a pro se litigant, and what has to be disclosed?
Yes. Under Rule 1.2(c) and the Persels decision, a lawyer may limit representation to defined tasks with the client's written informed consent, and may ghostwrite an initial pleading that is non-frivo…
If a client tells a North Carolina lawyer not to pay a medical provider out of settlement funds, may the lawyer disburse those funds to the client instead when the provider has a perfected statutory lien?
No, if the lien is perfected. A perfected statutory medical lien means the client is not currently entitled to the disputed funds, so the lawyer must segregate and retain them, and must pay the provid…
Can a North Carolina lawyer run a billboard or other ad that shows only a website URL, without the firm name, lawyer names, or office address?
Yes. An advertisement that includes only a URL satisfies Rule 7.2(c) so long as the firm's website contains the firm's official or trade name, or a responsible lawyer's name, on the homepage and the o…
What must a lawyer do to protect client confidences when crossing the U.S. border with a laptop or phone?
Before crossing, a lawyer must take reasonable steps to avoid carrying or exposing confidential client data; at the border the lawyer may comply with an agent's lawful-authority demand only after reas…
Can a lawyer represent a private applicant before a town planning board when partners in the same firm serve as the town's attorney?
No. This is a nonconsentable concurrent conflict. When firm lawyers serve as Town Attorney and Deputy Town Attorney advising the planning and zoning boards, no lawyer in the firm may represent an appl…
Can a New York law firm send an educational newsletter to a broad audience, and accept payment from a real estate brokerage to offset the cost?
Yes to both, with limits. An educational newsletter is not advertising and may go beyond current and former clients; if it primarily promotes the firm it is advertising and must meet Rules 7.1 and 7.3…
When a lawyer takes over a deceased lawyer's cases, may the lawyer pay the deceased lawyer's estate a share of the fee, and how may fees be split if the case is referred to a third attorney?
The lawyer may pay the estate only the portion of the fee that fairly represents legal services the deceased lawyer actually performed; paying for a bare referral, where the deceased did no work, is a…
When a law firm receives a settlement check covering the client's money, a referral fee, a staff bonus, and the firm's own fees, which payments must come out of the attorney trust account, and how fast?
Money in which a client or third person has an ownership interest must be paid from the trust (Special) account; money owed to someone who has only a claim against the lawyer may be paid from either t…
Can a Florida lawyer split fees with an out-of-state lawyer whose firm has nonlawyer owners?
Yes, if the out-of-state lawyer is authorized to provide the services, nonlawyer ownership is permitted and complied with in that firm's home jurisdiction, and the fee split follows Florida's fee-divi…
Can a New Jersey lawyer participate in online legal-services platforms like Avvo, LegalZoom, or Rocket Lawyer?
No. The Committees held that New Jersey lawyers may not participate in Avvo's legal services because it requires impermissible fee sharing and referral fees (RPC 5.4(a), 7.2(c), 7.3(d)), and may not s…
When a legal aid lawyer gives brief advice through a social worker for a low-income client, what ethics rules apply?
If the brief help creates an attorney-client relationship with the individual, the lawyer must avoid conflicts, get informed consent to a reasonable limited-scope representation, and provide competent…
Can a lawyer threaten to report an opposing party to a regulatory or administrative agency to gain leverage in a civil settlement?
Rule 3.4(e) bars only threats of criminal charges, so threatening a non-criminal proceeding is not barred by that rule; but such a threat can still violate extortion law (and Rules 8.4(b)/3.4(a)(6)), …
May a lawyer who drafted a couple's trust tell the beneficiaries that the surviving spouse, as trustee, misappropriated the trust assets, when the lawyer learned this from the successor trustee who consulted as a prospective client?
No. The successor trustee was a prospective client, so the lawyer owes her the same confidentiality owed to a former client under Rules 1.18 and 1.9. The information is confidential and no exception i…
Can an Ohio lawyer run a virtual law office, and what office address must the lawyer list if there is no traditional physical office?
The opinion concluded that an Ohio lawyer may operate a virtual law office, provided the lawyer is competent in the technology used, takes reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent disclosure of clien…
Can I serve on the board of a law-reform organization when my firm represents a client (a board of elections) that the organization has filed complaints against?
The panel concluded yes. Rule 6.4 lets a lawyer serve as a director, officer, or member of a law-reform organization even though the reform may affect a client's interests; the lawyer need only disclo…
Does a lawyer have to respond to a query from the disinherited son of a deceased client, who is neither a client nor a party to the will, asking the lawyer to confirm she drafted it?
No. The New York Rules impose no general duty to communicate with third parties, only two narrow exceptions that do not apply here. The lawyer has no obligation to respond to the son, and disclosing t…
Must a D.C. court-appointed criminal defense lawyer also enter the client's parallel civil protection-order case, and can the lawyer advise the client there without appearing?
The opinion concludes that a Criminal Justice Act (CJA) lawyer appointed in a criminal domestic violence matter is neither required nor barred from entering an appearance in the client's parallel civi…
Must a lawyer follow opposing counsel's instructions to communicate only in writing and to copy opposing counsel's client on every message?
No. A lawyer may communicate with opposing counsel in any manner he chooses, though opposing counsel need not respond to that method. With opposing counsel's prior consent, a lawyer may, but is not re…
Can a lawyer email clients without encryption, and when is stronger security required?
Usually yes. The opinion concludes that unencrypted routine email generally remains acceptable if the lawyer makes reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access, but stronger measures such as encr…
Can a West Virginia lawyer pay a fact witness for the time the witness spends testifying or preparing to testify?
A lawyer may pay a fact witness reasonable compensation for time lost preparing for testimony and being interviewed, but not for attending court or a deposition beyond the statutory witness fee, and n…
If a divorce lawyer learns after the judgment that the client omitted a material asset from a sworn Statement of Net Worth, must the lawyer do anything about it?
Yes. The lawyer must take reasonable remedial measures that are still available, even after the case has ended, starting by urging the client to correct the statement. If the client refuses, the lawye…
Can an employer's lawyer make a lump-sum workers' comp settlement offer that includes the employee's attorney fees?
Generally yes. The opinion concludes such offers are ethically permissible, though they create a conflict between the employee's lawyer and client; the lawyer may continue under Rule 1.7(b) with the c…
Must a criminal defense lawyer who doubts the client's competence seek a competency evaluation before letting the client plead guilty?
The opinion concludes that defense counsel has no automatic duty to seek a competency evaluation; counsel should first try to maintain a normal client-lawyer relationship under Rule 1.14, take protect…
Can a family-law attorney who serves as a foster parent keep representing children and other parties in Family Court proceedings in the same county where the social services department runs the foster care system?
Yes, in general. Usually the foster-parent role poses no significant risk to the lawyer's judgment, so no consent is needed. But where a reasonable lawyer would see a significant risk that the foster-…
Can a company's in-house counsel hand over the attorney-fee portion of an insurance arbitration award to the company employer without it being improper fee sharing?
Yes. Because New York no-fault insurance law entitles the prevailing claimant, not the attorney, to the fee award, the in-house lawyer may sign the fee portion over to the company without violating th…
Can a North Carolina lawyer buy text-message advertising sent to subscribers of an SMS service, and can the lawyer call a subscriber who opts in?
Yes. A lawyer may pay for text-message advertising that complies with Rules 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3; because the ad goes to a general subscriber list it is advertising, not targeted solicitation, and the la…
Can a retired New Hampshire lawyer keep an ownership stake in their former firm or share in fees the firm earns after retirement?
A retired lawyer may keep an ownership interest or control, and may share post-retirement fees, only if the lawyer remains a licensed lawyer (active or inactive, or admitted elsewhere); a lawyer who r…
Can a personal injury lawyer own a business that buys and sells the medical liens of other lawyers' injury clients?
No. The Committee concludes it is unethical for a lawyer who handles personal injury cases to be in the business of buying and selling other attorneys' clients' medical liens, because the lawyer's per…
Does a government agency lawyer satisfy the duty to report another agency lawyer's misconduct by reporting it to the agency's internal ethics office?
Reporting to the internal ethics office is consistent with Rule 8.3, but it does not by itself discharge the duty unless that office is a tribunal or an authority empowered to investigate or act. The …
Can an Ohio lawyer send unsolicited emails to get clients, and what disclosures must the email carry?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may use email to solicit professional employment because email is a written communication that does not involve the real-time contact prohibited by Prof. Cond. R. 7…
Can a lawyer in the firm where the newly elected district attorney was once a partner represent criminal defendants the DA's office is prosecuting?
Yes, if the district attorney has fully severed ties with the firm and a reasonable lawyer would not find a significant risk that the prior relationship will adversely affect the lawyer's judgment. If…
Can a Maine prosecutor contact a crime victim who has their own lawyer without that lawyer's consent?
Generally no. Under Maine Rule 4.2, a prosecutor who knows an alleged crime victim is represented by counsel on the criminal matter or a closely related civil matter may not communicate with the victi…
Is the identity of a current or former client protected by the duty of confidentiality?
The opinion concludes that under SCR 20:1.6 the duty of confidentiality protects all information relating to the representation, whatever its source, including a client's identity, so a lawyer may not…
Can a lawyer disclose a client's confidential information, such as billing time sheets, to support a fee claim in a fee dispute?
Yes, a lawyer may disclose confidential information reasonably necessary to establish or collect a fee, but must take all reasonable measures, such as redaction or seeking the court's guidance, to lim…
Can a lawyer who earns a broker's commission in a real estate deal also act as the buyers' attorney, even if the legal work is pro bono and the buyers are long-time clients and friends?
No. A lawyer who takes a commission as broker in a real estate transaction may not also serve as a lawyer to a party in that transaction. The conflict is per se nonconsentable, and offering the legal …
May a Utah lawyer contribute to, or be an officer or employee of, an entity that advocates for or against a judge's retention election?
Yes. A lawyer may submit comments to, contribute money to, or serve as an officer or employee of an entity advocating for or against a Utah judge's retention, but the lawyer's statements (and statemen…
My firm represents both the buyer and the seller as existing clients. Can two lawyers in the firm, with an internal screen, represent each side in the sale of a division of the seller's business?
The panel concluded no. The firm's representation of both current clients in the sale is a direct conflict under Rule 1.7(a)(1) because the sale is adversarial, and a firm is treated as one lawyer, so…
Can an immigration firm work with a nonlawyer foreign migration agent who refers clients and handles communication and translation, charge the client for those nonlegal services, and what must be disclosed?
Yes, if the relationship is not exclusive, the agent does not interfere with the lawyer-client relationship, the client consents to the referral conflict, and the lawyer pays nothing for referrals. Th…
Can a Colorado lawyer let a third party, such as a parent, employer, or family member, pay the client's legal fees?
Yes, under Rule 1.8(f). The opinion concludes a lawyer may accept payment from someone other than the client if the client gives informed consent, the payer does not interfere with the lawyer's indepe…
Can a government-employed ombudsman attorney give limited legal advice to a self-represented party without forming an attorney-client relationship?
Formal Ethics Opinion 2017-F-162 concludes that a workers' compensation ombudsman attorney may give limited legal advice to pro se litigants under RPC 1.2(c) without creating an attorney-client relati…
When a D.C. law firm dissolves, what do the firm and its lawyers owe their clients on notice, choice of counsel, files, and money?
The opinion aggregates the D.C. ethics duties that attach when a firm dissolves or dissolution becomes reasonably foreseeable. The firm and its lawyers must keep representing clients competently and d…
How long must a Wisconsin lawyer keep closed client files before destroying them?
The opinion concludes there is no fixed retention period in the rules, but if the former client has not requested the file the lawyer should keep it at least six years after the last act that could gi…
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.