Introduction
The ABA and state professional responsibility boards issue ethics opinions, advisory opinions attorneys request to determine acceptable conduct under the ethics rules. Formal ethics opinions focus on matters of general interest to the bar while informal ethics opinions focus on specific factual situations.
ABA Ethics Opinions
Sources for American Bar Association Ethics Opinions include:
- Recent Ethics Opinions (ABA)In print at Law Library KF305 .A24. Includes formal and informal decisions 1924 - present.
- ABA Formal Ethics Opinions
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- ABA ethics opinions are not freely available online but you can search an online Subject Index to ABA Formal Ethics Opinions through the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility's website.
State Ethics Opinions
To find state ethics opinions:
- Search the state court's webpage
- Search the state's bar journal
- Search the state bar association's webpage
- Try the following basic searches in the InfoHawk Library Catalog:
Subject beginning with: legal ethics—[state]
Subject beginning with: legal ethics—[state]—cases
Subject beginning with: bar associations—[state]—periodicals
- National Reporter on Legal Ethics and Professional ResponsibilityAlso available in print at Law Library KF305.A8 N38 1983. Lexis version is no longer updated.
- You can also link to the Ethics Opinions in every state through the:
- sunEthics
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Covering legal ethics, judicial ethics, bar admissions in Florida, Tennessee, and nationally. - Sources for Iowa Ethics Opinions include:
- Iowa Board of Professional Ethics OpinionsIowa Board of Professional Ethics Opinions from 1966 - present.
- Formal Opinions of the Iowa Supreme Court Board of Professional Ethics and Conduct1965 - 1998. In print at Law Reserve KFI4276.5.A2 A165.