Lawyers Should Disclose Intimate Ties With Opposing Counsel

Lawyers who have a relationship with opposing counsel, be it a friendship or an affair, need to evaluate whether the relationship poses a conflict that needs to be disclosed to clients, a new American Bar Association opinion said.

The opinion released Wednesday addresses a gap in model ethics rules that don’t provide guidance on conflicts that may arise for lawyers in relationships with opposing counsel that aren’t based on marriage or blood.

“Changing living patterns suggest that more people are living in households and arrangements that do not correspond to traditional categories,” the opinion said.

Lawyers in exclusive, intimate relationship ...