Ethics Question of the Month July 2026

Keeping Up Appearances

How much do you know about legal ethics and appearance lawyers?

The Situation

Attorney Andrea is a solo practitioner and represents Cliff in a pending civil case. Due to a scheduling conflict, she will be unable to attend a court hearing in the case. Andrea expects the hearing to be routine. After obtaining Cliff’s informed consent, she hires attorney Albert to handle the appearance. Andrea has known Albert for years and believes he is well-qualified for the matter.

The Question

Based on a 2026 opinion from the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas (PEC), which of the following statements is accurate?

The Correct Answer is A Of 0 Responses, 0% are correct.

  1. A 0
  2. B 0
  3. C 0
  4. D 0

The Explanation

In PEC Opinion 709 (February 2026), the committee addressed ethical responsibilities surrounding a lawyer’s retention of an “appearance lawyer”—who is unaffiliated with the hiring lawyer’s law firm—to perform a “discrete, temporary legal service on behalf of a client.”

The opinion concludes that a “lawyer hired to perform such a service represents the client, not the hiring lawyer, no matter how temporary and routine the assignment may be. The appearance lawyer owes the client the full panoply of lawyer-client duties, including competence, loyalty, and confidentiality.” The correct answer is A.

The opinion also explains that a “lawyer has a duty to notify the client and obtain the client’s informed consent when hiring an unaffiliated lawyer who will not be working under the close supervision of a lawyer affiliated with the law firm retained by the client.” The opinion specifies that this “includes an appearance lawyer hired to represent the client in a hearing or deposition outside the hiring lawyer’s presence.”

Among other duties discussed, the opinion states that “[b]oth the hiring lawyer and an appearance lawyer must avoid conflicts of interest relating to the representation of the client.”

Readers are encouraged to review PEC Opinion 709, which is available at legalethicstexas.com/resources/opinions/opinion-709. And for more Ethics Question of the Month columns, go to legalethicstexas.com/ethics-question-of-the-month.

Bluebook Citation

Keeping Up Appearances: Ethics Question of the Month - July 2026, Texas Center for Legal Ethics (2026), from https://legalethicstexas.com/ethics-question-of-the-month/ethics-question-of-the-month-july-2026/ (last visited Jun 26, 2026)

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