| LEO Num | Topics | Summary | Date |
1514
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| A collection lawyer disbarred for reasons other than misconduct involving clients may not perform clerk-like work for former clients even if under the direct supervision of a lawyer in another firm. The former lawyer may perform clerk-like work for those who were not former clients. | 4/12/1993 |
1132
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| A discharged lawyer must provide a complete accounting to the former client for all advanced fees (overruling LEO 431 to the extent it is inconsistent). | 11/16/1988 |
0970
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| A law firm may not pay a disbarred lawyer for work the lawyer performed before disbarment. A law firm may include a non-lawyer's name on its stationery as long as the stationery explains the non-lawyer's status. | 9/30/1987 |
1260
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| A law firm may not use the services of an insurance adjusting company headed by a disbarred former associates of two of the lawyers in the law firm, because the disbarred lawyer would be rendering services for lawyers with whom the disbarred lawyer was associated after the date on which the wrongdoing occurred. | 9/21/1989 |
0809
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| A lawyer may not divide a contingent fee with a lawyer whose license was revoked after the fee was received. [This LEO was overruled in LEO 1218.] | 6/25/1986 |
1111
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| A lawyer may not split a fee with another lawyer who had worked on the matter but whose license was later suspended because the lawyer became mentally disabled (the lawyer was not guilty of any wrongdoing). [To the extent it is inconsistent, this LEO was overruled by LEO 1218.] | 8/1/1988 |
0934
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| A lawyer may not: pay a lump sum to a disbarred lawyer to take over the practice; pay for the disbarred lawyer's yellow page advertisement; divide a contingent fee with the disbarred lawyer; employ the disbarred lawyer as a legal assistant on a set salary; and take over the disbarred lawyer's phone number and answer the telephone as "law offices." [To the extent it is inconsistent, this LEO was overruled by LEO 1218.] | 6/16/1987 |
0524
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| A lawyer may operate the office of a suspended lawyer if there is no association between them, the suspended lawyer is not in the office during business hours and the clients consent. [This LEO was overruled by LEO 824 to the extent they are inconsistent.] | 9/13/1983 |
1365
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| A lawyer represented a client until the lawyer's license was revoked. The former lawyer then worked as a counselor at a hospital. While the former lawyer was working at the hospital, the former client's spouse was admitted. The former lawyer did not act as the spouse's counselor at the hospital. When the former lawyer's license was reinstated, the lawyer was approached by the client to represent the client in a dispute with the spouse.Because the former lawyer was not acting in a legal capacity while at the hospital, there could be no attorney-client relationship established with the spouse who was a patient at the hospital. However, a lawyer's independent professional judgment might be affected by duties of another profession to keep confidences. Furthermore, violation of another profession's duties might amount to a violation of a lawyer's ethical duties. | 7/31/1990 |
1218
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| A suspended or disbarred lawyer is entitled to receive compensation for work performed before the suspension, as long as the work is not related to the matter resulting in the lawyer's suspension. | 5/8/1989 |
0694
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| An associate may not continue a firm's practice if the partners have lost their licenses, although the associate may maintain an independent practice as long as there is no misrepresentation and the clients understand the situation. | 5/10/1985 |
1044
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| Former partners of a disbarred lawyer may use an adjusting company that employs the disbarred lawyer as an adjuster as long as the disbarred lawyer does not practice law or hold himself or herself out as a lawyer. | 3/1/1988 |
1852
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| Under Virginia Rule 5.5, a law firm may not employ "in any capacity" a lawyer whose license was revoked or suspended for any misconduct if the lawyer was associated with the law firm while the lawyer engaged in the alleged misconduct, regardless of when the lawyer was convicted of a crime or the date the bar revoked or suspended the lawyer's license. Another law firm may employ the disciplined lawyer, but if the disciplined lawyer serves at that law firm "as a consultant, law clerk, or legal assistant" that law firm may not represent: (1) any client previously represented by the disciplined lawyer; or (2) any client represented by the disciplined lawyer's law firm on or after the date of the disciplined lawyer's wrongdoing at the former firm. The disciplined lawyer's former firm could not retain an "adjusting firm" to provide services to the law firm -- if the disciplined lawyer was the adjusting firm's chief executive officer. However, other law firms or companies can retain a company to provide non-legal services, even if the disciplined lawyer owns or is employed by the company providing such non-legal services. | 12/9/2009 |