Search Ethics Opinions

Search below by keyword, phrase or year for Formal Ethics Opinions issued from 1985 to the present. Most opinions older than 1995 are available as Adobe Acrobat .pdf Files. Reading these files requires the Adobe Reader. Refer to Adobe PDF file viewing help for more information.

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Summaries of Recent Opinions

12-01: Of Counsel Letterhead   A law firm may list, on firm letterhead and in other communications, lawyers who are not employed by the firm but are “of counsel” to the firm. To avoid being misleading, however, the firm letterhead and other communications must conspicuously identify the “of counsel” lawyers’ status as well as any other limitations on their relationship with the law firm.
 

12-02: Advertising; False or Misleading Communication   ER 7.1 prohibits a lawyer from making false or misleading communications about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services.  Under this rule, the name under which a lawyer practices law may be misleading if, for example, it is materially different from the name appearing on the records of the State Bar of Arizona.  On the other hand, a lawyer may, for purposes of engaging in an activity that does not constitute the practice of law, adopt any name by which the lawyer chooses to be known, so long as the lawyer has no fraudulent or improper motive for doing so.
 

11-04: Firm Domain Names; Trade Names; Advertising   Subject to the requirement that a law firm’s website address not be false or misleading, the mere use of “.org” by a for-profit law firm does not violate the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct.  Ariz. Ethics Op. 01-05 is modified accordingly.