ABA Says Lawyers Must Assess Would-Be Clients for Crime Risk

Lawyers must inquire and assess potential clients before undertaking representations in order to reduce the risk of assisting criminal or fraudulent activity, the American Bar Association said in an ethics opinion released Friday.

Attorneys don’t need to remove every concern they may have that clients aren’t using their advice to commit crime, the ABA said.

When a lawyer’s initial inquiry leaves them with unresolved questions about whether the current or prospective client wants to use the lawyer’s services to commit a crime or fraud, the lawyer first “must make additional efforts to resolve those questions through further reasonable inquiry,” the ...