FEO

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. The North Carolina State Bar received a request for an interpretation of Rule 7.3(a) in regards to prior professional relationships.  Generally, Rules 7.3(a) states that lawyers are prohibited from soliciting professional employment from a potential client in-person, by live telephone, or through real-time electronic contact.  However, Rule 7.3(a) contains several exceptions, including a prior professional relationship, which permits the lawyer to [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. At its October 23, 2015 meeting, the North Carolina State Bar adopted Proposed FEO 6 which addressed several inquiries regarding the professional responsibility of a lawyer when funds are stolen from a lawyer’s trust account by a third party not employed or supervised by the lawyer.  Generally, this opinion rules that the lawyer will not be professionally responsible for replacing funds stolen from the trust account, so long as the lawyer was [...]

View the Proposed Ethics Opinion in Full Here. The North Carolina State Bar voted to formalize Proposed 2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 4 at its meeting on July 17, 2015. Formal Ethics Opinion 2015 FEO 4 rules that due to the seriousness of professional malpractice potential on a client’s case and well-being, the duty to disclose whether an error might constitute legal malpractice depends on where it falls on a spectrum of the duty to keep the client reasonable informed about his legal matter [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. Generally, lawyers representing a client during the pre-conviction stages of a case have a vastly different relationship with the client—more personal contact and more irrelevant confidential information exposed—than lawyers representing a client during post-conviction stages of a case.  As such, the North Carolina Bar opines in Proposed 2015 Formal Ethics Opinion 5 that during appellate proceedings, a discharged lawyer is allowed to discuss a [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here. The Ethics Committee voted to adopt and retitle 2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 9 at its meeting on July 16, 2015. The inquiry that led to the opinion concerned a situation where a lawyer wanted to retain a private investigator to look into his client’s former employer for an alleged violation of the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act.  However, in order to fully investigate the employer’s payment practices, the private investigator wanted to use [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here The North Carolina State Bar Council decided to withdraw 2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 5 Advising a Client About Social Media that was adopted July 25, 2014.  Instead, at its July 17, 2015 meeting, the State Bar released a substitute opinion for 2014 FEO 5. According to the opinion, if the client’s social media postings could be relevant and material to that client’s legal matter, a lawyer must advise the client about the legal ramifications of [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here The Formal Ethics Opinion 2015 FEO 2 rules that when the original debt of an unrepresented borrower, owner, or guarantor is over $100,000, a lawyer for a lender may prepare and provide a waiver of the right to notice of foreclosure and the right to a foreclosure hearing pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 45-21.16(f) so long as the lawyer explains that his role and does not give legal advice to any unrepresented person.  It should be noted that a lawyer [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here The Formal Ethics Opinion 2015 FEO 3 rules that a lawyer may not offer a computer tablet to a prospective client in a direct mail solicitation letter.  A lawyer is not permitted to make false or misleading statements or communications about him or his services as per Rule 7.1. In the instance with the computer tablet, even with a disclaimer stating that the tablet is on loan and must be returned at the conclusion of the representation, the sending [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here The Formal Ethics Opinion 2014 FEO 10, republished during the April 2015 meeting, rules that a lawyer who handles adoptions as part of her or his law practice and also owns a financial interest in a for-profit adoption agency may, with informed consent, represent an adopting couple who is utilizing the services of his or her adoption agency.  However, the lawyer may not represent the biological parents, just the adoptive parents. In such a situation, [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here In response to several inquiries as whether a lawyer may prepare pleadings or other fillings for a pro se opposing party in a civil proceeding, the State Bar released 2015 FEO 1 at its meeting on April 17, 2015.  The Bar notes that this opinion is limited to pleadings and filings in pending case at trial, and does not address closing a business transaction or other formal trial proceedings. The opinion officially rules that it is a violation of Rule [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here At its October 24, 2014 meeting, the North Carolina State Bar released 2014 FEO 7 that rules a lawyer may provide a foreign entity or individual with a North Carolina subpoena.  If a lawyer needs to obtain medical records from an individual out of state or a foreign entity, then a subpoena may be used.  However, the lawyer should not mislead the recipient of their authority to require the production of documents, as it is a violation of Rule [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here After receiving inquiries about the responsibilities a partner or supervising lawyer has to a firm lawyer that has mental impairment, the North Carolina State Bar adopted 2013 FEO 8 at its July 25, 2014 meeting.  Within this opinion, mental impairment includes diminished capacity due to age, depression, and substance abuse problems. Diminished Capacity Rule 1.1 mandates that a lawyer must competently represent a client; therefore, mental impairment [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here On July 25, 2014, the North Carolina State Bar adopted 2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 4 entitled, “Serving Subpoenas on Health Care Providers Covered by HIPPA.”  This opinion allows a lawyer to send a subpoena for medical records to an entity covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) without providing the necessary assurances required by 45 C.F.R. §164.512(e)(ii) that would permit the entity to comply with [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here On July 25, 2014, the North Carolina State Bar adopted the 2013 Formal Ethics Opinion 12.  This opinion allows for a subsequently hired lawyer in a worker’s compensation case, when the client terminates representation of a former lawyer, to discuss and disclose settlement terms to the former lawyer to resolve a pre-litigation claim for fee division. Fee division is appropriate in a worker’s compensation claim when a client discharges Lawyer A, [...]

View the Formal Ethics Opinion in Full Here A formal ethics opinion titled “Protecting Confidential Client Information When Mentoring” was originally proposed on July 14, 2014.  At its February 1, 2016 meeting, the State Bar adopted this opinion.  2014 FEO 1 considers issues related to confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege when an lawyer is mentoring a law student.  This does not apply to students who are serving as interns/clerks in the same firm as the attorney who is [...]