Ethics Opinion 269

NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION

Committee on Professional Ethics

Opinion #269 – 10/20/1972 (54-72)

Topic: Bankruptcy
Digest: Lawyer may seek relief in bankruptcy
Code:  DR 1-102(A)(6) EC 1-5

QUESTION

May a lawyer in financial difficulty due to the failure of nonprofessional business interests properly file to discharge his debts, whether incurred professionally or in the course of his outside interests, in bankruptcy?

OPINION

There is no professional impropriety in a lawyer’s seeking relief in bankruptcy. N.Y. City 194 (1931); N.Y. City 279 (1933); Drinker, Legal Ethics. 94 (1953).