Ethics Question of the Week: Hiring suspended or disbarred lawyers for client intake

Q. Can I hire a suspended or disbarred lawyer to do simple client intake forms in my office under my supervision?

A. In In re Discipio, 163 Ill.Dec. 515, 645 N.E.2d 906 (1994), an Illinois lawyer was found to have violated the ethical prohibition on aiding the unauthorized practice of law for hiring a disbarred lawyer to gather information from clients and complete forms on their behalf. The applicable RPC is 5.5(a), which provides that “a lawyer shall not practice law in a jurisdiction in violation of the regulation of the legal profession in that jurisdiction, or assist another in doing so.”

ISBA members can browse past ISBA Ethics Opinions, access our Ethics Hotline, and other resources on the ISBA Ethics Page.

Disclaimer. These questions are representative of calls received on the ISBA’s ethics hotline. The information provided below is meant as an educational tool to highlight potentially applicable Illinois RPC or other ethics resources that might help the lawyer answer the question posed. The information provided isn’t legal advice. Because every situation is different, often complex, and the law is constantly evolving, you shouldn’t rely upon this general information without conducting your own research.

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Chris Bonjean
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Member Comments (1)

The answer does not answer the inquiry. In the case cited, the problem seems to be the nature of the forms (e.g., identified as a legal document; forms of the Industrial Commission) by having the non-attorney complete forms in behalf of clients, an act that seems to be the practice of law. The question does not indicate the type or nature of the intake forms.

The question, however, was limited to the suspended or disbarred lawyer gathering information from clients and not rendering any type of advice on the lawyer's intake forms. This may be OK depending upon the type of information, and I suspect that it is not uncommon for many lawyers to use secretaries, law clerks, and paralegals to do client intake forms.

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