Commentary: Legal Ethics Assistance – Office of Legal Ethics Counsel Launches Updated Website with New Search Options for Informal Opinions and Additional Resources for Lawyers

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When Missouri lawyers are in need of legal ethics assistance, they are encouraged to seek guidance from the Legal Ethics Counsel.  Since 2003, lawyers have been able to avail themselves of the resource to seek an informal opinion from the Legal Ethics Counsel regarding their prospective conduct pursuant to Rules 4, 5, and 6, whether by telephone or in writing, in accordance with Rule 5.30(c).  In an effort to better serve the lawyers in Missouri, the Office of Legal Ethics Counsel and Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri have launched an updated website at www.mo-legal-ethics.org, including a new searchable database of published Informal Opinions.

The new Informal Opinions searchable database replaces the former database long hosted by The Missouri Bar.  Informal Opinions are ethics advisory opinions issued by the Office of Legal Ethics Counsel to members of the Bar about Rule 4 (Rules of Professional Conduct), Rule 5 (Complaints and Proceedings Thereon), and Rule 6 (Fees to Practice Law) pursuant to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 5.30(c). Written summaries of select Informal Opinions are published for informational purposes as determined by the Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri pursuant to Rule 5.30(c).  Informal opinion summaries are advisory in nature and are not binding.  There are now five ways to search or browse Informal Opinions:

1. By Informal Opinion Number – if you know the number of the opinion you are trying to locate, or want to see if an opinion has been cited in another opinion
2. By Rule of Professional Conduct – if you want to see all of the Informal Opinions published on a specific Rule of Professional Conduct
3. By Subject – if you want to look for an opinion on a topic, but are not sure of the Rule of Professional Conduct or Keywords
4. By Year – see when opinions were published by year
5. By Keyword – search by keywords

This updated website has a number of other resources for lawyers, including links to Formal Opinions and applicable Rules, articles, a list of approved financial institutions to hold client trust accounts, and resource pages.  Resources pages are compiled by the Legal Ethics Counsel to assist lawyers with frequent ethics questions, and include links to relevant Rules of Professional Conduct, Formal Opinions, Informal Opinions, disciplinary cases, articles, and FAQs on that topic.  Resource pages are currently available on Confidentiality – Exceptions and Preservation, Electronic Communication and Practice, File Retention, Leaving a Law Firm, Litigation Loans, Of Counsel, Office Sharing, Reporting Misconduct of Another Lawyer or Judge, The Ethics of Retirement, and Trust Account Resources and Resources for Accepting Payments by Credit Card.  New resource pages are added periodically, and resource pages are also updated periodically.

Missouri lawyer’s should consider bookmarking this updated website as an informational and research resource, and add the Office of Legal Ethics Counsel’s phone number,          573-638-2263, to their contacts, as lawyers with ethics questions are always encouraged to contact the Office of Legal Ethics Counsel to request an informal advisory opinion about their prospective conduct under the Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct when they need guidance.

*Note:  Judge Fischer serves as the Court’s liaison to the Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri.