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 #: 666
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: December 2016
Does a conflict of interest exist where attorneys, who are married to each other, either represent, or are members of firms who represent, opposing parties to the same civil matter? If so, can the conflict be cured?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 665
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: December 2016
What are a Texas lawyer’s obligations under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct to prevent the inadvertent transmission of metadata containing a client’s confidential information? What are a Texas lawyer’s obligations under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct when the lawyer receives from another lawyer a document that contains metadata that the receiving lawyer believes contains and inadvertently discloses confidential information of the other lawyer’s client? For example, is the receiving lawyer permitted to search for, extract, and use the confidential information, and is the receiving lawyer required to notify the other lawyer of the receipt of the confidential information?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 664
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: October 2016
Do lawyers violate the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct if they fail to notify an opposing party or its counsel that they are in possession of confidential information taken from the opposing party without the opposing party’s knowledge or consent? Do lawyers violate the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct if they fail to notify an opposing party or its counsel that they have inadvertently received confidential information of the opposing party?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 663
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: September 2016
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may Texas lawyers in a law firm that is a member of an organization that includes other law firms use the name of that organization as the law firm’s name on pleadings or other public communications if all names contained in the organization’s name are not names of current or former members of the firm or a predecessor firm?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 662
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: August 2016
May a Texas lawyer respond publicly to a former client’s adverse comments on the internet? If so, what information may the lawyer disclose?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 661
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: July 2016
Does a lawyer violate the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by using the name of a competing lawyer or law firm as a keyword in the implementation of an advertising service offered by a major search-engine company?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 660
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: July 2016
Does Professional Ethics Opinion 549 (August 2003), which addressed the calculation of a lawyer’s contingent fee in a workers’ compensation case, apply outside the context of workers’ compensation?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 659
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: July 2016
May a Texas lawyer represent one insured in settling a claim and later represent that client’s insurance company in defending another insured’s claim that arises out of the same incident?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 658
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: July 2016
May a Texas lawyer bill clients for expenses paid to a third party in an amount that is greater than the amount that the third party charged the lawyer? May Texas lawyers charge for the expenses paid to a third-party vendor that is owned by a member of their law firm?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 657
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: May 2016
What documents and information must be delivered by a lawyer to a former client convicted of a criminal offense when requested by that former client? Who bears the costs of delivering the documents and information to the former client? In what form must the documents and information be delivered?
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