All opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics are available online here. To locate a specific opinion or opinions, enter the opinion number or keyword in the appropriate search box below. Licensed attorneys may also call 877-953-5535 for access to opinions
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Canon:
Opinion #: 612
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: November 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, is it permissible for a lawyer to participate in a local bar association program, established in conjunction with local courts, in which lawyers cease to be subject to regular appointment to represent indigent persons in certain family court matters by paying an annual fee which is used to supplement payments made by the county to court-appointed lawyers who handle such matters?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 611
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: September 2011
Is it permissible under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct for a lawyer to include in an employment contract an agreement that the amount initially paid by a client with respect to a matter is a “non-refundable retainer” that includes payment for all the lawyer’s services on the matter up to the time of trial?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 610
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: August 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, is a lawyer permitted to acquire, by agreement with his client, a security interest in the subject matter of litigation that the lawyer is conducting for the client in order to secure payment of the lawyer’s fee with respect to the litigation?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 609
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: August 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may a lawyer who is an employee of an insurance company and who represents persons insured by the company with respect to claims covered by liability insurance policies issued by the company share an office with a non-lawyer insurance adjuster, who is employed by the insurance company to handle on behalf of the company questions regarding coverage in particular cases under company insurance policies?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 608
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: August 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, is it permissible for a legal services lawyer to represent a client in a child custody matter in the following situations: (1) when another lawyer with the legal services organization previously represented the client’s opponent in an unemployment benefits claim; (2) when another lawyer with the legal services organization currently represents the client’s opponent with respect to an unemployment benefits claim; and (3) when the legal services organization had previously screened but rejected an application by the client’s opponent for representation in the same matter?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 607
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: July 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may a lawyer proposing to move to another law firm reveal to the prospective law firm information relating to the lawyer’s prior work for clients so that the law firm may determine whether the employment of the lawyer will create conflicts of interest for the firm?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 606
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: May 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct is a lawyer permitted to continue to hold in the lawyer’s trust account unearned fees paid by a client and otherwise repayable to the client if continuing to hold the unearned fees is based only on the lawyer’s belief, in the absence of a claim asserted, that the client may have improperly or illegally obtained the funds paid by the client?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 605
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: March 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may the remaining lawyers in a law firm continue to use, in the name of their firm, the name of a lawyer who left the firm to practice independently from the firm and who has consented to the law firm’s continuing use of his name in the firm name?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 604
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: January 2011
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may a lawyer communicate privately with the members of a board of a state agency about their consideration of a regulation that would require the lawyer’s client to apply for and obtain a permit? If the regulation is adopted, may the lawyer communicate privately with members of the board about the client’s planned permit application? May the lawyer’s client communicate privately with members of the board when the lawyer is prohibited by the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct from doing so?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 603
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: November 2010
Do the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct require or permit a lawyer to reveal to a corporation’s creditors the lawyer’s advice to the corporation that the person who owns and manages the corporation has engaged in conduct that constitutes a breach of the person’s fiduciary duty to the corporation?
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