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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Can a lawyer seeking restitution for a crime victim contact the subject of the criminal investigation directly when the subject has a criminal defense lawyer?
Not without first asking. Because the civil restitution claim is closely related to the criminal investigation, the victim's lawyer must inquire of the subject's criminal counsel; direct contact is…
If one jointly represented co-defendant revokes a conflict waiver, can the lawyer keep representing the other client?
It depends on the circumstances. With no advance agreement covering revocation, whether the lawyer may continue for the non-revoking client turns on the nature of the conflict, whether the revoking…
May a Louisiana lawyer pay fees to a lawyer who has been suspended or disbarred?
The opinion bars fee sharing for post-discipline legal work but permits payment as a creditor for services performed or fees earned before discipline under a valid agreement or quantum meruit,…
Can a lawyer record a statutory attorney's lien against a client's real property to secure unpaid fees?
No. The opinion concludes that recording an attorney's lien for fees under AS 34.35.430 violates Alaska Rules 1.5, 1.8, and 1.16; the proper route is to reduce the fee claim to judgment, which gives…
May a judicial candidate loan money to the campaign committee and be repaid from later contributions?
West Virginia JIC Opinion 2012-04 permits the loan and committee repayment from campaign funds, provided the candidate does not learn the source of each contribution; the committee sets repayment…
Must a magistrate resign immediately to run for sheriff, and may the candidacy be announced outside the courthouse?
West Virginia JIC Opinion 2012-03 requires immediate resignation on announcing the sheriff candidacy and finds no Code bar to announcing on a public street or sidewalk outside magistrate court.
Must a city council member resign from council to run for magistrate?
West Virginia JIC Opinion 2012-02 allows the council member to remain while campaigning for magistrate but requires resignation from council if elected.
Can a North Carolina law firm use online banking to manage its client trust account given the duty to safeguard client funds?
Yes. The opinion concludes a law firm may use online banking to manage a trust account if it can meet the Rule 1.15 fiduciary and recordkeeping requirements, including the Rule 1.15-3(b)(3) records…
Can a North Carolina law firm use cloud-based 'software as a service' to store and manage client files and data?
Yes. The opinion concludes a law firm may use software as a service (SaaS), where client data is stored on a vendor's remote servers, if it takes reasonable care to minimize the risk of inadvertent…
Can a North Carolina criminal defense lawyer accused of ineffective assistance disclose confidential information to respond before a court orders it?
Yes. The opinion concludes a North Carolina lawyer accused of ineffective assistance of counsel may disclose confidential information that the lawyer reasonably believes is necessary to respond,…
Can a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor interview an unrepresented child who is the alleged victim and prosecuting witness, without a parent's or guardian's consent?
The opinion concludes a lawyer may not interview an alleged child abuse victim under age 14 without consent of a non-accused parent or guardian or a court order, but may interview a child 14 or…
May a domestic-relations judge write a grant recommendation for a nonprofit that supplies court-referred visitation services?
Yes, under the Commission’s conditions for a law-related program: the letter must reflect personal knowledge, describe the program’s value to the court, and avoid donor pressure or an appearance of…
May a Colorado judge chair a nonprofit board and sign its grant applications without using a judicial title?
The judge may chair the nonprofit board but may not sign its grant applications. The Board treated signing as solicitation even when the application omits the judge's title.
Who are the clients when one corporation's in-house patent lawyer prosecutes a joint patent for two corporations and their employee-inventors?
The lawyer represents both corporations and their inventors despite a contract disclaimer. The lawyer owes confidentiality duties to all and generally cannot later act for the employer against the…
What must a Connecticut lawyer do with settlement proceeds when a hospital has given notice of a statutory lien under General Statutes § 49-73?
If the insurer sends the proceeds without resolving the lien, a lawyer who has notice must segregate the disputed portion until resolution. The opinion also requires timely advice and review of the…
Can a lawyer pay a marketing firm based on the number of clients it introduces?
No. Under Rule 7.2, a lawyer may pay the reasonable cost of marketing, but may not tie a marketing firm's compensation to the number of potential or actual clients it introduces, because that gives…
I filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for my client's mother, and now the client wants me to file his own Chapter 7, but the trustee might try to unwind a property transfer he made to his mother. Is representing him a conflict because of my prior work for her?
No. The panel held it is not a Rule 1.9 conflict to represent the son in his own bankruptcy even though a property interest of the mother, a former client, could be affected, because the son's…
Can a North Dakota law firm pay an out-of-state firm a percentage of fees collected in exchange for being its exclusive referral firm for North Dakota clients?
No. The committee concluded the arrangement violates Rule 1.5(e) because the percentage paid to the out-of-state firm is for the referral alone, not in proportion to services performed and with no…
Can a debt-collection lawyer use a daily bank sweep on a client trust account to disburse collection payments to the client automatically?
Yes, but with safeguards. The committee concluded a lawyer may set up a separate interest-bearing trust account for a debt-collection client and honor a daily sweep, but only if the sweep removes…
May a recalled Maryland judge appear in a collaborative-divorce association’s promotional video?
No. The Committee concluded that discussing the benefits of that divorce method in the association’s video would imply a judicial endorsement and lend the prestige of office to the people who…
Can a lawyer who once represented the wife (separately, and jointly with the husband against a third party) now represent the husband on appeal in their divorce?
The opinion concludes the lawyer's earlier separate representation of the wife does not bar representing the husband on appeal because it is not substantially related, but the joint litigation…
What duties arise when a probate judge learns privately from counsel of a personal representative’s suspected misuse of estate funds?
Nebraska Judicial Ethics Opinion 12-1 identified possible reporting duties and said the judge should notify interested parties of the ex parte communication and allow a response, without prescribing…
May a judge speak at a bail bondsmen's conference and accept travel reimbursement from its association or a local bondsman?
The committee found the proposed talk permissible. It called expense reimbursement from either the national trade association or the local bail bondsman who invited the judge highly inadvisable…
Can a plaintiff's lawyer contact the client's medical providers and offer to prepare and file medical liens for them so the full medical bills become admissible?
Qualified yes. The committee concluded a plaintiff's attorney may, with the informed written consent of both the injured client and the providers, offer to prepare and file a medical-provider lien,…
Can a lawyer charge a contingent fee to help a will beneficiary recover more of the estate than she was told she would receive?
Yes, a reasonable contingent fee is permissible in a probate matter where the lawyer's work creates a genuine risk and recovery, here a percentage of any amount obtained above the $30,000 the…
Can a lawyer who learns a client is running a financial scam report the client to law enforcement, and must the lawyer do so?
The lawyer is not required to report a financial scam that does not threaten substantial bodily harm, but Washington RPC 1.6(b)(2) permits disclosure to prevent a client from committing any crime,…
Can a lawyer pay a non-profit bar association a percentage of the fee for referring clients, and does the referral-service exception allow it?
No. The committee concluded that paying a non-profit bar association a percentage of the fee is prohibited fee-sharing with a non-lawyer under RPC 5.4(a); RPC 7.2(b)(2)'s allowance for a referral…
When can a lawyer withdraw from an immigration case for nonpayment or a client's silence, and how much can the lawyer tell the court about why?
A lawyer may withdraw when a client stops communicating or fails to pay after reasonable warning, but RPC 1.6 limits what the lawyer may tell the court; a statement that professional considerations…
Can the portion of a flat fee meant to cover specified costs (like a filing fee) be treated as the lawyer's property, or must it go in trust?
It must go in trust. An advance specified for expenses cannot be part of a flat fee that is the lawyer's property on receipt; it must be deposited in the lawyer's IOLTA account and kept there until…
What must a lawyer do when a client's creditor serves a writ of garnishment on the lawyer's trust account holding the client's advance fee deposit?
If the client disputes the writ, the lawyer must hold the funds in trust under RPC 1.15A(g) until the court or the parties resolve the dispute; if the client does not dispute it, the lawyer must…
Is a corporation's general counsel responsible for the ethical conduct of an in-house lawyer the company keeps outside the legal department and outside the GC's control?
No. Where the corporation places another in-house lawyer outside the legal department and refuses to subject that lawyer to the general counsel's control, RPC 5.1 imposes no supervisory duty on the…
Can a lawyer turn over client files and unredacted financial records to the state Department of Revenue during a tax audit without the client's consent?
No. RPC 1.6 obligates the lawyer to keep client files and unredacted client-related financial records confidential, even when the Department of Revenue demands them in an audit, absent the client's…
Must a lawyer warn a client who emails the lawyer from an employer-owned computer or account that the communications may not be private?
Yes. Once the lawyer believes there is a significant risk a third party will access the communications, the lawyer must warn a client using an employer-provided device or account that the employer…
What are a lawyer's duties around metadata: protecting it when sending documents, handling it when received, and mining a scrubbed document for it?
A sending lawyer must act competently to scrub confidential metadata; a receiving lawyer who finds inadvertently disclosed metadata must notify the sender but may read it; and using forensic…
Can a lawyer store confidential client files with a third-party cloud or online storage provider?
Yes. A lawyer may use third-party online data storage for confidential client files if the lawyer conducts reasonable due diligence on the provider and continues to monitor its security, to protect…
Can a lawyer pass the credit-card processing fee on to the client when the client pays the lawyer by credit card?
The Rules of Professional Conduct do not prohibit it, provided the lawyer gives advance notice and charges no more than the actual transaction cost; but the lawyer's merchant-services agreement…
Can a lawyer use a debit card tied to the IOLTA trust account to pay a court filing fee electronically?
Yes, provided the lawyer never uses the card to withdraw cash, safeguards the card, confirms the client has sufficient funds for the charge and any transaction fee, and keeps records of every debit…
Can a lawyer take a security interest in a client's real property to secure payment of fees, including during a divorce case?
Yes. Under RPC 1.8(i) a lawyer may take a contractual security interest in a client's real property to secure fees; if the interest is added by modifying an existing fee agreement, the lawyer must…
Must a judge recuse when a former marital master with whom the judge worked appears as counsel?
The Committee found no automatic disqualification absent actual bias, but required disclosure of the prior working relationship for a reasonable period.
May a California lawyer run a virtual law office where all client communication and storage are handled through a third-party cloud vendor's portal, and what does she have to do to comply with her ethical obligations?
Per California Formal Opinion 2012-184, the Rules of Professional Conduct do not impose greater duties on a VLO than on a traditional office, but the cloud-only structure triggers specific…
May a former senior associate disclose client confidences to her own attorney to evaluate a wrongful discharge claim against her old firm, and may either of them publicly disclose those confidences in the litigation?
Per California Formal Opinion 2012-183, the associate may privately disclose to her own attorney so much of the firm's client's confidential information as is necessary to evaluate the claim, but…
May a lawyer reveal former-client information to prove the lawyer’s own claim against that client?
Rule 4-1.6(b)(3) permits only disclosure necessary to establish the claim, no greater than needed to serve that purpose, with appropriate safeguards under Comment [12].
May a lawyer serve as both of counsel to a law firm and general counsel to a bank?
Yes. The opinion permits both roles if the lawyer discloses the relationship with each organization everywhere the lawyer is held out to the public, under Rules 4-7.1 and 4-7.5.
Do Missouri ethics rules require a disclaimer on emails to clients warning that email may be insecure?
No. The opinion says no such disclaimer is required, while Rule 4-1.6 still calls for reasonable precautions against unintended interception and may require special security for sensitive…
What happens when a corporate client's merger creates adversity to another current client?
The opinion first tests whether the acquired company and parent have a unity of interests; if a conflict exists and consent fails, it analyzes withdrawal, loyalty, and confidential information.
Can an Alabama lawyer sell discounted legal services through Groupon or other daily-deal websites?
No. The opinion concludes that the website's percentage cut is impermissible fee sharing with a non-lawyer under Rule 5.4, and the model also implicates the trust-account, refund, conflict-check,…
When a court appoints a lawyer to represent a child in a contested custody or visitation case, what role does the lawyer play and what are the professional responsibilities of each role?
The opinion identifies three roles and says the appointment order should specify which one. A 'Child's Attorney' provides traditional, client-directed representation and owes the child loyalty,…
Can a North Carolina lawyer who defended a company in workers' compensation cases move to a plaintiffs' firm that sues that company, and how must she be screened?
Yes. The opinion concludes she may join the plaintiffs' firm if she is timely screened from any matter she handled for the former client, any substantially related matter, and any matter on which…
May a judge privately consult legislators about controversial reform in an area of the judge’s legal expertise?
Yes, under the Commission’s stated conditions: the consultation must concern the law or justice system, preserve judicial duties and impartiality, and comply with the other canons.
Must a circuit judge recuse from sheriff-related cases when the judge’s spouse is the county manager?
The Commission requires recusal when the county is a party, but rejects automatic recusal in the described sheriff-related matters absent another disqualifying fact. It says the judge should…
May a domestic-relations judge act in a child-advocacy center’s dinner-theater fundraiser without soliciting money?
No. The Commission says the center’s advocacy work would raise a reasonable question about the judge’s impartiality despite the absence of solicitation or use of judicial title.
May a drug court judge spend three hours each week on community service with current participants while avoiding case discussions?
No. The Commission says the sustained outside-court contact violates the ex parte restriction and raises reasonable questions about impartiality even if criminal cases are not discussed.
May an applicant for judicial appointment remain a political party convention delegate?
Nebraska Judicial Ethics Opinion 12-3 said a prospective judicial candidate could avoid a Code violation by unequivocally resigning or declining the delegate role in writing before applying for the…
Can an Illinois lawyer charge a contingent fee to find and recover a client's unclaimed property?
It depends, and the fee must still be reasonable. There is no per se bar; whether a contingent fee is proper turns on what the lawyer knew at the outset about whether the property exists, its…
When may an Illinois divorce lawyer use an advance payment retainer instead of a security retainer?
Only when a security retainer cannot accomplish the client's purpose. Rule 1.15 permits an advance payment retainer (which becomes the lawyer's property and goes in the general account) in any type…
Can a lawyer licensed only in another state represent a party in an Illinois grievance arbitration, and how may that lawyer advertise in Illinois?
Yes, on a temporary basis. Rule 5.5(c)(3) lets an out-of-state lawyer who is not disbarred or suspended provide legal services for a grievance arbitration in Illinois if the services are temporary,…
May a new Illinois lawyer discuss a client matter with a mentor from a formal mentoring program who is not in the same firm?
Yes, within limits. A new lawyer may discuss general or abstract questions with a mentor outside the firm as long as the client cannot be identified and no information relating to the representation…
May an Illinois lawyer post a client's question on a bar association listserv or online discussion group to get advice from other lawyers?
Yes, with limits. A lawyer may consult other lawyers on a listserv if the inquiry is general or abstract and carries no real risk that the client can be identified or that information relating to…
After an associate leaves an Illinois law firm, may the associate contact firm clients he worked with, tell them they can follow him, and when must the client be notified of the departure?
Yes. A departed associate may contact firm clients with whom he had an attorney-client relationship to report his departure and tell them they may stay with the firm or move the file to him, so long…
Can an Illinois city attorney keep advising the plan commission and city council after a partner in the same firm appears before those bodies to oppose a zoning change?
Not without informed consent. The partner's appearance against the city creates a Rule 1.7 conflict imputed firm-wide under Rule 1.10, and the city attorney's recusal from the partner's matter does…
How these opinions are useful
- Understand the rules: Ethics opinions interpret how the rules of professional conduct apply to real fact patterns.
- Weight varies by state: Most bar opinions are advisory, not binding like court discipline decisions, though formal opinions carry substantial weight. Some states go further: Georgia and Virginia opinions approved by the state supreme court bind lawyers there, New Jersey's bind the ethics committees that decide grievances, Rhode Island and Alabama protect the lawyer who asked for an opinion and followed it, and Utah and North Dakota protect lawyers who rely on one. Each opinion page says how much weight its opinion carries.
- 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.