Ethics Opinions

State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct Formal Opinion 2007-174 Topic: retention/communication of clients’ files. Digest of the Committee: “An attorney is ethically obligated, upon termination of employment, promptly to release to a client, at the client’s request: (1) an electronic version of e-mail correspondence, because such items come within a category […]

State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct Formal Opinion 2007-172 Topic: Payment of fees and/or expenses by credit card. Digest of the Committee: “1. An attorney may ethically accept payment of earned fees from a client by credit card. In doing so, however, the attorney must discharge his or her duty of […]

Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Topic: Rights of Access, Possession and Copying, Along with Retention Considerations From the Opinion: “This Formal Opinion supersedes all prior inconsistent opinions of the Committee and should be reviewed for guidance by Pennsylvania lawyers when they are opening, closing or taking other action with respect to the contents of […]

Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics of the New York State Unified Court System’s Office Topic: Judge’s website content Digest of the Committee: “(1) A judge who is a candidate for judicial office may include a link on his/her campaign website to published newspaper articles about the judge. (2) A judge who is a candidate for […]

Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas Topic: “
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may a lawyer refuse a former client’s request to disclose or turn over the lawyer’s notes made in the course of and in furtherance of his representation of the client? “   Conclusion of the Committee: “Under […]

Opinion No. 335 of the District of Columbia Bar’s Legal Ethics Committee Topic: “Whether a Lawyer May, as Part of a Settlement Agreement, Prohibit the Other Party’s Lawyer From Disclosing Publicly Available Information About the Case” Committee’s Summary: “A settlement agreement may not compel counsel to keep confidential and not further disclose in promotional materials […]

Topic: Virtual Law Practice The full text can be found at: http://www.ncbar…

Rules of Professional Conduct Committee   Topic: Client File Retention Conclusion of the Committee: “There is no comprehensive rule on retaining closed client files. The rule relating to safekeeping of clients’ funds should be consulted and a file retention policy based on good judgment should be developed by every law firm and solo practitioner for […]

Topic: URL for Firm Website is Trade Name and Must Register with Bar Full text can be found at: http://www.ncbar…

Topic: Information in URL for Firm Website The full text can be found at: http://www.ncbar…