ISBA Professional Conduct Advisory Opinion No. 12-14
Topic: Advertising and Solicitation; Communications with Client, Law Firm Partnership and Employment Agreements; Law Firms
Digest of the ISBA:
“After departure, an associate who has left a law firm may contact clients of the firm with whom he had an attorney-client relationship. The Rules of Professional Conduct do not preclude him from informing such clients that he has departed and that they have the right to continue with the firm or transfer the file to him. Notice to the client is mandatory where a departing associate has been involved in representing the client in such degree or kind that the departure could reasonably affect either the client’s decisions regarding the representation or the means of accomplishing the client’s objectives. In such case, the associate must ensure that he or the firm (or both) timely inform the client of his departure. Whether such notice must issue before the associate’s departure will depend on the circumstances.”
References:
Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, Rules 1.4, 1.16, 5.1, 5.2, 5.6, 7.1, and 7.3;
ISBA Advisory Opinion Nos. 86-16 (May 1987);
Arizona Bar Ethics Opinion 10-02;
ABA Formal Ethics Op. 99-414 (1990);
Dowd & Dowd, Ltd. v. Gleason, 181 Ill. 2d 460 (Ill. 1998);
Dowd & Dowd, Ltd. v. Gleason, 352 Ill. App. 3d 365 (1st Dist. 2004).
The full text is available at http://www.isba.org…