NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Paralegal, real estate Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #677- 12/12/1995 (47-95) Topic: Delegation of Lawyer’s Duties to Paralegal Digest: Lawyer may delegate attendance at real estate closing to paralegal under certain circumstances Code: DR 1-104(A); EC 1-8; EC 3-1; EC 3-5; EC 3-6 QUESTION: May an attorney representing a bank … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Advertisements, class action, mailing, solicitation Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #676 – 10/31/1995 (27-95) Topic: Advertising; Solicitation; Class Action. Digest: Attorney may advertise for, or solicit by mail, additional participants in class action litigation. Code: DR 2-101; DR 2-104(F); DR 2-103(A); DR 7-101(A)(3); EC 2-10 QUESTION May an attorney ethically publish newspaper or … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Prosecutors Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #675 – 10/31/1995 (54-95) Topic: Campaign activities by assistant district attorney Digest: Assistant district attorney may not participate in campaign activities on behalf of another running for public office Code: EC 7-13; EC 8-8 QUESTION May an assistant district attorney participate in campaign activities as part … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Conflict of interest Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #674 (39-94) Modifies N.Y. State 178 (1971), 187 (1971), 212 (1971), 440 (1976), 466 (1977), 496 (1978),562 (1984), 598 (1989) Topic: Conflict of interest; multiple representation of corporation and corporate officer; corporate officer perjury; duty to withdraw. Digest: Guidelines when corporate officer … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Judges Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #673 – 03/16/1995 (62-94) Topic: Judges, disqualification; representation of relative of judge by lawyer. Digest: 1) A lawyer may appear before a town justice when the lawyer represents a relative of another town justice in an unrelated action in another court unless there is some … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Prosecutors Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #672 – 01/05/1995 (29-94) Topic: Part-time confidential law clerk and part-time assistant district attorney as partners in private practice Digest: Partners may hold positions as an assistant district attorney and confidential law clerk to a County Court judge provided that the confidential clerk may not appear … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Conflict of interest Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion 671 – 11/4/94 (40-94) Topic: Conflict of interest; accept-ance of referral fee from insurance company by attor-ney Digest: An attorney engaged in estate planning may not accept referral fee from insurance company for recommending client Code: Canons 5, 6; DR 5-101(A), 5-104(A), 5-105(C); EC 5-2 … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Prosecutors Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #670 – 08/03/1994 (70-93) Overrules: N.Y. State 214 and 280 Modifies: N.Y. State 118 Topic: Part-time City Court Judge and part-time assistant district attorn-ey practicing in the same law firm Digest: Part-time judge associated in private practice with assistant district attorney may not represent criminal defendants; … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Fees Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #669 – 06/14/1994 (69-93) Topic: Contingent fees; computation thereof. Digest: Under what circumstances, if any, may an attorney’s fee in a contingency fee case be computed prior to deducting from the amount recovered the expenses of the litigation. Code: DR 2-101, 2-106(A), 2-106(C), 2-106(D); EC 2-17, … Continued
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Reasonable compensation, witness compensation Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion #668 (16-94) 06/03/1994 Topic: “Reasonable Compensation” of a Witness Digest: There is no ethical limit on the amount an individual may be paid for assistance in the fact finding process, so long as the client consents after full disclosure. The attorney should keep … Continued