| LEO Num | Topics | Summary | Date |
ABA-507
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| (Lawyers who are not in the same law firm may share permanent or temporary office space. They must deal with a number of issues: (1) confidentiality (which may require office-sharing physical arrangements that avoid disclosure of or exposure to confidential information, refraining from leaving client files in conference rooms, kitchen areas, etc.); securing physical files and locking down computers; staff training); (2) clear and accurate communication about the relationship of the office-sharing colleagues (preparing separate business cards, buying accurate advertisements, training a common operator to answer with a salutation such as “Law Offices,” etc.); (3) conflicts of interest considerations (such as imputation of conflicts, which depend on “whether the lawyers are, or appear to the public or their clients as, “associated in a firm” — which is more likely among office-sharing lawyers “who do not protect the confidentiality of their respective clients, regularly consult with each other on matters, share staff who have access to client information, mislead the public about their identity and services, or otherwise fail to keep their practices separate.”); office-sharing lawyers may represent direct adversaries even in litigation after disclosure to clients of the office — sharing arrangement and client consent, staff screening, and assessment whether the pertinent state’s rules permit such adversity; consultation among the office-sharing lawyers (which does not automatically create “associated” status, but which should avoid disclosure of client identity or other protected information and which instead may involve hypotheticals, and which risk “material limitation” conflicts depending on the context of the shared information, as with Model Rule 1.18’s “prospective client” analysis). | 7/12/2023 |
0574
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| A Commonwealth's Attorney and a criminal defense lawyer (who defends cases prosecuted by the Commonwealth's Attorney) may share library expenses as long as they are not in any other way affiliated, there is no other financial relationship between them and the library is not physically connected to either office. | 5/10/1984 |
1578
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| A criminal defense lawyer may lease space to a Commonwealth's Attorney's office as long as the space has a separate entrance and there would be no public access to the Commonwealth's Attorney's office (because there is no chance of any sharing of confidential information as there was in LEO 1416). | 2/8/1994 |
1532
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| A lawyer may use the term "and associates" in describing the lawyer's practice if the lawyer employs an associate in a manner that is more than office-sharing. The lawyer may use the term "associates" in the plural only if the lawyer employs at least two lawyers. | 5/11/1993 |
0493
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| A lawyer who "usually" represents those insured by the defendant's insurance company may represent the plaintiff in a personal injury action against the defendant only if both parties consent. (The request for an opinion reveals that the lawyer's father, with whom the lawyer shared an office, was currently representing an insured of the insurance company on an unrelated matter). | 9/20/1982 |
0677
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| A lawyer who represented both the husband and wife in drafting a property settlement and giving legal advice about it may not now represent the wife in a divorce action. Likewise, the husband may not be represented by another lawyer with whom the first lawyer shares office space and secretarial help. | 4/2/1985 |
1574
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| A retired lawyer may retain an office in a prior law firm but must be careful not to obtain any confidences or secrets of the former firm's clients. | 2/8/1994 |
0874
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| A solo practitioner who shares offices with a firm and whose office may be entered only by going through the firm should place a sign in the lobby indicating the lawyer's solo practitioner status. | 2/2/1987 |
1799
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| Determining whether a business relationship such as a landlord/tenant relationship between a Commonwealth Attorney and a private lawyer prevents the private lawyer from defending cases handled by the Commonwealth Attorney (and which cannot be cured with consent because the Commonwealth Attorney cannot obtain consent from the Commonwealth) is a fact intensive matter. Here, the following facts triggered the prohibition: the Commonwealth Attorney and the private lawyer co- owned a building; were each responsible for the mortgage; the building houses the defendant lawyer's practice; and the Commonwealth Attorney is the co owner of the "computers, office equipment and furniture of the defense attorney's law practice." | 6/30/2004 |
0413
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| Given the possibility of the appearance of impropriety and the sharing of confidential information, lawyers sharing office space with one another should not represent adversaries in the same matter. | 5/21/1981 |
0799
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| It is not per se unethical for lawyers sharing office space and secretaries to represent adverse clients, but they must be careful. | 5/27/1986 |
1416
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| It would be unethical for a lawyer to represent criminal defendants being prosecuted before a Commonwealth's Attorney when the lawyer leases office space to the Commonwealth's Attorney and shares a common waiting room, receptionist and law library with the Commonwealth's Attorney. | 5/13/1991 |
0943
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| Three lawyers share an office, phone system and secretarial help. It is not improper per se for the lawyers to represent adverse clients as long as the clients consent. It would be best for the lawyers not to represent adverse interests, given their close relationship. | 6/24/1987 |