In the News
City Bar Ethics Panel Issues Opinion on Attorney Threats
New York Law Journal, July 7, 2015
City Bar Ethics Panel Issues Opinion on Attorney Threats
Attorneys thinking of threatening disciplinary charges against another attorney must “carefully consider” if making such a threat violates the state’s rules of professional conduct, a bar group’s ethics panel said. The New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics released a formal opinion saying while disciplinary threats do not breach Rule 3.4(e)—which forbids threatening to present a criminal charge to gain advantage in a civil matter—there was no “unfettered license” to threaten adversaries, as they could violate other provisions in the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.
