Category: Ethics Opinions

Ethics Opinion 1270: Engagement letters; Recording attorney-client communications; Withdrawing from employment; Advance consent to withdrawal

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  Topic: Engagement letters; Recording attorney-client communications; Withdrawing from employment; Advance consent to withdrawal. Digest: A lawyer’s engagement letter or retainer agreement may prohibit the client from making audio or video recordings of communications between the lawyer and client provided the engagement letter or retainer agreement: (a) does not mislead the client regarding circumstances under … Continued

Ethics Opinion 1268: Confidential information; publication of article about issues arising in a case handled by the lawyer

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Topic:  Confidential information; publication of article about issues arising in a case handled by the lawyer Digest:  After the termination of the representation, a lawyer may publish an article that discusses legal issues in the representation, as long as the article does not reveal confidential information without the consent of the client.  Confidential information does … Continued

Ethics Opinion 1267: Paying for a recommendation or referral

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TOPIC: Paying for a recommendation or referral. DIGEST: A website that promises to connect potential clients with attorneys whom the website claims have excellent qualifications and are carefully vetted, constitutes an “advertisement” on behalf of the lawyers available through the website (see Rule 1.0(a) and Rule 7.1), and the lawyers’ payment to the business providing … Continued

Ethics Opinion 1266: Disclosing confidential information to government agency that is funding a client’s representation

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TOPIC: Disclosing confidential information to government agency that is funding a client’s representation. DIGEST: An attorney may not report a client’s confidential information to a government agency that funds the representation of the client without the client’s informed consent. RULES: 1.0(j), 1.4, 1.6(a)-(b), 1.8(f), 1.9(c), 1.18(b) FACTS: The inquirer receives funding from a government agency … Continued

Ethics Opinion 1265: Conflicts of interest

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TOPIC: Conflicts of interest, former clients DIGEST: A lawyer formerly employed by a Legal Aid Society office would not have a conflict in representing a client in a matter adverse to a party who had been represented by other lawyers in that office at that time unless the lawyer, while at Legal Aid, acquired confidential … Continued

Ethics Opinion 1263: Part-time town attorney’s representation of criminal defendants in centralized arraignment part

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TOPIC: Part-time town attorney’s representation of criminal defendants in centralized arraignment part. DIGEST: A part-time town attorney who has no prosecutorial responsibilities may, in his role as a part-time county public defender, represent criminal defendants at arraignments before a justice of the same town’s court even if that justice sometimes sits on rotation in a … Continued

Ethics Opinion 1262: Recognition of lawyer on not-for-profit organization’s website

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TOPIC: Recognition of lawyer on not-for-profit organization’s website DIGEST: A lawyer may pay for an advertisement on the website of a not-for-profit organization that provides online medical information for victims of toxic chemicals. Separately, the lawyer may make a financial contribution to the not-for-profit organization in exchange for the organization’s agreement to list the lawyer … Continued