| LEO Num | Topics | Summary | Date |
0278
 Print
|
| A client's wife stole a document from the client's employer to use in a lawsuit. As long as the client's lawyer was not involved in the theft, the lawyer may continue to represent the client and use the document. [LEO 1702 would require the lawyer to return the stolen document.] | 1/29/1976 |
0386
Print
|
| A lawyer is not obligated to disclose the location of a weapon the lawyer discovered during an investigation, as long as the lawyer did not remove or conceal the weapon. | 8/29/1980 |
1076
Print
|
| A lawyer may contact an adversary's expert witness, although "courtesy" would suggest that the lawyer advise the adversary's counsel. The Bar also indicated that a lawyer receiving "selected items" from an opponent's file from "some unknown third party" was not obligated to return the materials and could read and use them for the client's benefit (the Bar noted that "out of professional courtesy you should inform the opposing counsel that you have received these materials.") [LEO 1702 would require the lawyer to return the materials without reading them.] | 5/17/1988 |
0404
Print
|
| A lawyer may not reveal information about where a client hid a weapon. | 2/27/1981 |
0551
Print
|
| A lawyer must turn over documents that are "fruits or instrumentalities" of a crime. | 11/23/1983 |
0709
Print
|
| A lawyer must turn over documents that constitute the "fruits or instrumentalities" of a crime even if the lawyer's client is not the person charged or under investigation (in this case, the document was an insurance remittance voucher relevant to a police investigation). | 7/11/1985 |
1141
Print
|
| A lawyer representing a widow in a medical malpractice/wrongful death action may use files taken by the widow from the treating physician's office. The files are not "fruits of a crime" but the lawyer should advise the widow to return the original of the file. The lawyer could keep and use a copy of it. [This LEO was overruled by LEO 1702.] | 10/17/1988 |
1202
Print
|
| A lawyer representing alleged drug dealers discovers cash that the clients claim is unrelated to their criminal activity. If the lawyer is "convinced that this recently discovered money is not a fruit of a crime," the lawyer has no duty to reveal it. | 2/22/1989 |
1324
Print
|
| Even if it is not illegal, a lawyer cannot tape record conversations without the other party's consent, or assist the client in doing so. A lawyer may use such a recording made by the client before the client retained the lawyer, and must keep the client's activity confidential [overruling LEO 1217.] [Effectively overruled in Virginia LEO 1802] | 2/27/1990 |
1049
Print
|
| If a lawyer has a legal duty to turn over the personal effects of a client's step-daughter who has charged the client with rape, then the lawyer would violate an ethical duty by failing to do so. | 3/2/1988 |
0953
Print
|
| Indicating that a lawyer must turn over a weapon received from a client because it is a "fruit or instrumentality" of a crime. | 8/21/1987 |
491
Print
|
| Lawyers have a duty under ABA Model Rule 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.13, 8.4 and 1.16 "to inquire further to avoid assisting" clients' wrongful conduct if the lawyer "has knowledge of facts that create a high probability that a client is seeking the lawyer's services in a transaction to further criminal or fraudulent activity." "Failure to make a reasonable inquiry is willful blindness punishable under the actual knowledge standard" of ABA Model Rule 1.2(d). The "Committee rejects the view that the actual knowledge standard of [ABA Model] Rule 1.2(d) relieves the lawyer of a duty to inquire further where the lawyer is aware of facts creating a high probability that the representation would further a crime or fraud." If a client "refuses to provide information or asks the lawyer not to evaluate the legality of a transaction the lawyer should explain to the client that the lawyer cannot undertake the representation unless an appropriate inquiry is made." | 4/29/2020 |
ABA-463
Print
|
| The Model Rules "do not mandate that a lawyer perform a 'gate-keeper' role" to "combat money laundering and terrorist financing." The ABA's August 2010 Voluntary Good Practices Guidance for Lawyers to Detect and Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing takes the proper "risk-based approach" rather than a "rules-based" approach. Lawyers following those guidelines can comply with the Model Rules by avoiding improperly assisting money laundering or terrorist financing. Among other things, lawyers may terminate representations under Rule 1.16 if the lawyer "reasonably believes" clients are engaging in criminal or fraudulent conduct, even if the lawyer does not "know for certain" that clients are engaging in illegal conduct | 5/23/2013 |