Ethics Opinions

Ethics Opinions

Below are links to selected ethics opinions issued by the State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC). These are advisory opinions regarding the ethical propriety of hypothetical attorney conduct. Although advisory opinions are not binding, Rule 1.0 of the Rules of Professional Conduct encourages lawyers to consult advisory opinions for guidance. Advisory opinions also have been cited by California courts in analyzing professional responsibility issues.

The ethics opinions provided below have been selected because they address issues that may be of interest to senior lawyers, however, the specific hypotheticals posed in the opinions do not refer to "senior" lawyers.

Selected State Bar of California Ethics Opinions

  • CAL 1986-90 (1) May a law office comprised of separate sole practitioners who share office space and overhead expenses but who are neither partners nor incorporated hold themselves out as a single entity without identifying themselves as individual practitioners? (2) May a former partner's name be continued as part of the firm name, with the former partner's consent?
  • CAL 1988-97 May an attorney have a lay signatory on the client trust account?
  • CAL 1989-111 What are the ethical responsibilities of an attorney representing the defendant in a civil action wherein a complaint has been filed and served on the defendant, an answer is now due and the client cannot be located?
  • CAL 1989-112 May an attorney institute conservatorship proceedings on a client's behalf, without the client's consent, where the attorney has concluded the client is incompetent to act in his best interest?
  • CAL 1989-113 Is it ethically permissible for an attorney to undertake a representation adverse to a wholly-owned subsidiary of an existing corporate client?
  • CAL 1989-115 Is it ethically proper for an attorney to require a potential client to execute a blanket waiver of the client's right to disqualify the attorney in any other matter, based on a breach of the attorney's duty to maintain confidences and/or to avoid conflicts of interest?
  • CAL 1993-129 (1) May multiple "principal" law firms designate the same independent attorney or law firm as "of counsel" in their solicitations, including stationery and similar public announcements. (2) Absent written client waivers, may a principal law firm and its independent "of counsel" attorneys represent adverse or potentially adverse interests.
  • CAL 1993-132 While Attorney serves as a director of a corporation ("Corporation"), Client approaches Attorney with a proposal for a transaction with Corporation. Client wants to present the proposal to Corporation and asks the attorney to represent it in connection with structuring the proposal and negotiating and drafting an agreement between Client and Corporation. Corporation is regularly represented by other counsel in connection with such transactions. What ethical considerations must Attorney address as she decides whether she can or should accept representation of Client?
  • CAL 1995-141 What are a lawyer's ethical responsibilities when rendering non-legal services to a client that are either (1) performed by the lawyer outside the scope of the lawyer's legal representation of the client, or (2) performed in connection with a lawyer or law firm's representation of the client or otherwise by someone employed by the lawyer or an entity owned in whole or in part by the lawyer?
  • CAL 1997-150 What ethical issues arise when attorneys enter into arrangements to share office space or services, such as reception and library facilities, maintenance staff, secretarial staff, or paralegal staff, without forming a law firm?
  • CAL 1999-154 (1) To what extent do the California Rules of Professional Conduct apply to a member who is performing, or represents and markets herself as able to perform, both legal and non-legal professional services for a client at the same time? (2) Does rule 1-400 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct apply to a member's use of her qualifications as a lawyer in marketing a purely non-legal service? (3) What rules apply when, as part of a member's investment advisory services involving both legal and non-legal advice, the member refers clients to a portfolio manager, who then pays the member a percentage of the compensation received for managing the portfolio?
  • CAL 2001-155 What aspects of professional responsibility and conduct must an attorney consider when providing an Internet web site containing information for the public about her availability for professional employment?
  • CAL 2001-157 What ethical duties does an attorney have regarding the retention of former clients' files? Is the attorney ethically required to retain the files for any specific length of time following the completion of representation?
  • CAL 2002-160 (1) What ethical constraints govern an attorney whose client has conferred upon her authority to settle, without instituting litigation, claims of the client for specific percentages of the amounts claimed, when the client has disappeared? (2) What ethical constraints govern the attorney's right to collect legal fees from settlement proceeds when communication with the client is not possible?
  • CAL 2003-161 Under what circumstances may a communication in a non-office setting by a person seeking legal services or advice from an attorney be entitled to protection as confidential client information when the attorney accepts no engagement, expresses no agreement as to confidentiality, and assumes no responsibility over any matter?
  • CAL 2007-172 (1) May an attorney ethically accept payment of earned fees from a client by credit card? (2) May an attorney ethically accept payment of fees not yet earned from a client by credit card? (3) May an attorney ethically accept payment of advances for costs and expenses from a client by credit card?
  • CAL 2007-173 (1) May an attorney, consistent with ethical obligations, deposit a client’s will or other testamentary documents with a private will depository, without the client’s consent?  (2) May an attorney, consistent with ethical obligations, register a client’s will or other testamentary documents with a private will registry, without the client’s consent?
  • CAL 2007-174 Is an attorney 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, (2) an electronic version of the pleadings, (3) an electronic version of discovery requests and responses, (4) an electronic deposition and exhibit database, and/or (5) an electronic version of transactional documents?
  • CAL 2009-178 Is it ethically proper for an attorney who is settling a fee dispute with a client to include a general release and a Civil Code section 1542 waiver in the settlement agreement?  Does the existence of a legal malpractice claim against the attorney alter the ethical propriety of including a general release and section 1542 waiver in the settlement agreement?
  • CAL 2010-179 Electronic Storage of Confidential Information and Data Breaches
  • CAL 2012-183 Duty of Confidentiality and Seeking Legal Advice
  • CAL 2014-190 Dissolving Firm and Moving to New Firm
  • CAL 2019-199 Attorney Directory and Rating Websites
  • CAL 2020-203 Data Breaches
  • CAL 2021-206 Colleague Impairment
  • CAL 2024-209 Succession Planning

Local County Bar Association Ethics Opinions (Ethics opinions can be accessed directly on their website)

Los Angeles County Bar Ethics Opinions

  • LA 460 (1990) Restrictive Retirement Payments
  • LA 462 (1990) Preparation of a Will in Which the Attorney Acquires an Interest
  • LA 470 (1992) Payment of Year-End Bonus to an "Of Counsel" Attorney
  • LA 475 (1993) Client Papers - Duty to Retain or Return
  • LA 483 (1995) Limited Representation of In Pro Per Litigants
  • LA 491 (1997) Attorney Office Files - Destruction when Client Deceased
  • LA 493 (1998) Disputes Between Former Clients Over Transfer of Original Client Files
  • LA 502 (1999) Lawyers' Duties When Preparing Pleadings or Negotiating Settlement for In Pro Per Litigant
  • LA 511 (2003) Sharing in Fees as Partner or Employee of Two Law Firms
  • LA 516 (2006) Ethical Considerations Relating to an Attorney who Concurrently Serves in an Of Counsel Relationship with a Law Firm and Maintains a Separate Solo Practice
  • LA 518 (2008) Ethical Considerations in Outsourcing of Legal Services
  • LA 525 (2012) Ethical Duties of Lawyers in Connection with Adverse Comments Published by a Former Client
  • LA 529 (2017) Ethical Risks in Using Social Media
  • LA 530 (2018) Law Firm Using Former Partner’s or Shareholder’s Name

San Diego County Bar Association Ethics Opinions

  • SD 1969-4 Payments to Widow and/or Estate for Temporary Take Over of Deceased Attorney's Practice. Name on Door and Letterhead
  • SD 1983-10 What is the duty of the attorney for a guardian/conservator/personal representative or other fiduciary who will not prepare an accounting and may have converted assets to his own use?
  • SD 1990-3 When an attorney agrees to draft a document with legal significance for another person, the person who must sign the document for it to have any effect becomes a client, regardless of who asked the attorney to draft the document, who paid for the services, or whether the attorney ever meets with the person who will be signing the will.
  • SD 1992-2 What obligations, if any, are imposed by the Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of California upon an attorney who obtains knowledge that another attorney has committed a violation of such Rules, which violation raises a substantial question as to the violating attorney's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as an attorney?
  • SD 1996-1 When attorneys who do not work in the same firm or share an office together regularly discuss cases and clients, are these attorneys acting in an "of counsel" status?
  • SD 2001-1 May an attorney condition delivery of copies of significant documents in the client's file to the client on the client's prior payment of the copying expense when the representation has not been terminated?
  • SD 2006-1 The advent of the electronic communication technology revolution via computer networks presents new opportunities for public access to legal services and for lawyers and law firms.
  • SD 2012-1 What conditions, consistent with the California Rules of Professional Conduct and the State Bar Act, must an attorney meet to represent a client in litigation when that client regularly transmits and stores information digitally, including by email?
  • SD 2013-3 May an attorney ethically charge a client for providing in-house services such as secretarial overtime, photocopying, processing electronic discovery, electronic legal research, the cost of CDs, mileage and parking, meals, Federal Express and postage, and long distance telephone?
  • SD 2018-3 To what extent may lawyers use a technology-assisted review to identify documents to be produced in response to demands for production requiring analysis of voluminous documents?
  • SD 2019-2 What legal ethics regulations and standards must a California lawyer consider when deciding whether to participate in a marketing program where consumers obtain an immediate, brief, limited-scope telephonic consultation with a lawyer selected by the program?

San Francisco County Bar Association Ethics Opinions

  • SF 1996-1 Unless the client and attorney agree otherwise, the attorney may dispose of any writing in the "client file," except to the extent retention is necessary to avoid reasonably foreseeable prejudice to the client's legal rights.
  • SF 1999-2 An attorney who reasonably believes that a client is substantially unable to manage their own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence, may, but is not required to, take protective action with respect to the client's person and property.
  • SF 2014-1 May an attorney respond to a negative online review by a former client alleging incompetence but not disclosing any confidential information where the former client’s matter has concluded? If so, may the attorney reveal confidential information in providing such a response? Does the analysis change if the former client’s matter has not concluded?
  • SF 2021-1 Is a lawyer who is licensed in one or more jurisdictions but practice law remotely from another jurisdiction where the lawyer resides and is not licensed, engaged in the unauthorized practice of law?
  • SF 2023-1 Should certain contract provisions sometimes used by California lawyers in attorney-client fee agreements (also known as engagement agreements or engagement letters) be revised or omitted because they violate California’s ethical standards?

American Bar Association Ethics Opinions

  • ABA 92-369 Disposition of Deceased Sole Practitioners' Client Files and Property
  • ABA 00-419 Use of Credit Cards for Payment of Legal Fees
  • ABA 03-429 Mentally Impaired Lawyer in the Firm
  • ABA 03-431 Lawyer's Duty to Report Rule Violations by Another Lawyer Who May Suffer from Disability or Impairment
  • ABA 06-442 Review and Use of Metadata
  • ABA 06-444 Permissibility of Restrictive Covenants in Lawyer Agreements Concerning Benefits Upon Retirement
  • ABA 07-446 Undisclosed Legal Assistance to Pro Se Litigants
  • ABA 08-451 Lawyer’s Obligations While Outsourcing Legal and Nonlegal Support Services
  • ABA 10-457 Lawyer Websites
  • ABA 11-459 Duty to Protect the Confidentiality of E-mail communications with One’s Client
  • ABA 467 Managerial and Supervisory Obligations of Prosecutors
  • ABA 468 Facilitating the Sale of a Law Practice
  • ABA 471 Ethical Obligations of Lawyer to Surrender Papers and Property to which Former Client is Entitled
  • ABA 479 The “Generally Known” Exception to Former-Client Confidentiality
  • ABA 480 Confidentiality Obligations for Lawyer Blogging and Other Public Commentary
  • ABA 483 Lawyers' Obligations After an Electronic Data Breach or Cyberattack
  • ABA 495 Lawyers Working Remotely
  • ABA 496 Responding to Online Criticism
  • ABA 498 Virtual Practice
  • ABA 506 Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistants
  • ABA 507 Office Sharing Arrangements with Other Lawyers