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 #: 643
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: May 2014
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, is it permissible for a lawyer to arrange for a debt management services company owned by the lawyer to refer customers of the company to the lawyer’s law firm for legal services?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 642
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: May 2014
1. May a for-profit Texas law firm include the terms “officer,” “principal,” or “director” in the job titles of the firm’s non-lawyer employees?
2. May a for-profit Texas law firm pay or agree to pay specified bonuses to non-lawyer employees contingent upon the firm’s achieving a specified amount of revenue or profit?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 641
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: May 2014
Do the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct permit a lawyer to accept client referrals from a financial planning services company that regularly engages the lawyer to provide legal services to the company?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 640
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: April 2014
May a Texas professional corporation that is wholly owned by one lawyer use an assumed name that includes the name of the sole shareholder and the name of a lawyer employed by the firm?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 639
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: November 2013
Is it permissible under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct to include "Retired Judge" on the letterhead and business cards of a practicing lawyer who has retired from service as a part-time municipal court judge?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 638
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: October 2013
Is it permissible under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct for Texas lawyers, who practice law in two Texas law firms and who are also licensed to practice in another state, to conduct a cooperative law practice in the other state using a firm name that combines the names of the two Texas law firms?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 637
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: August 2013
Do the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct permit a lawyer to include in an agreement with a client the client’s waiver of rights under Texas statutes providing civil remedies for violations of laws against barratry?
May a lawyer settle with a client who is not represented by other legal counsel a claim under Texas statutes providing civil remedies for barratry violations?
Must a lawyer who has been sued under the Texas statutes providing civil remedies for barratry violations report such fact to the State Bar of Texas?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 636
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: August 2013
Is it permissible under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct for a court-appointed criminal defense lawyer to accept payment from a county based on a fee schedule that authorizes fixed fees based on the stage at which the case is disposed of?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 635
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas
Date: August 2013
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct is a lawyer permitted to advise, for a fee, a pro se litigant in a divorce or related family law matter concerning “self-help” forms prepared by the litigant if such services by the lawyer are conditioned on the litigant’s signed agreement that no lawyer-client relationship exists between the lawyer and the litigant? Is the lawyer permitted to limit the scope of his services in such cases to advice concerning the “self-help” forms?
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Canon:
Opinion #: 634
Cite: The Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas
Date: July 2013
Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, is it permissible for a law firm to continue to include in the firm name the name of a lawyer who temporarily moves out of Texas and accepts a job that prohibits the lawyer from engaging in the private practice of law? Is it permissible for that lawyer to continue as a member of the Texas law firm and to maintain a financial interest in the Texas law firm?
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