Legal Ethics Opinions

Informal Advisory Opinions

Informal Opinions are ethics advisory opinions issued by the Office of Legal Ethics Counsel to members of the Bar about Rule 4 (Rules of Professional Conduct)Rule 5 (Complaints and Proceedings Thereon), and Rule 6 (Fees to Practice Law) pursuant to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 5.30(c). Written summaries of select Informal Opinions are published for informational purposes as determined by the Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri pursuant to Rule 5.30(c). Informal opinion summaries are advisory in nature and are not binding. These opinions are published as an educational service and do not constitute legal advice.

Researching Existing Informal Opinions

The Office of Legal Ethics Counsel and Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri host a database of published Informal Opinions here.  

There are five ways to search or browse Informal Opinions:

  1. By Informal Opinions Number – if you know the number of the opinion you are trying to locate, or want to see if an opinion has been cited in another opinion
  2. By Rule of Professional Conduct – if you want to see all of the Informal Opinions published on a specific Rule of Professional Conduct
  3. By Subject – if you want to look for an opinion on a topic, but are not sure of the Rule of Professional Conduct or Keywords (note: this index currently only goes back a few years, but will be developed to include older opinions over time 
  4. By Year – see when opinions were published by year --- great if you remember reading about an opinion in a recent year
  5. By Keyword – search by keywords

Researching Existing Formal Opinions of the Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri

The formal opinions and informal advisory opinions through June 30, 1994, are included in a deskbook entitled Missouri Advisory Opinions published by The Missouri Bar in 1995. A supplement to the deskbook was published in 1996. Opinions included in the deskbook and supplement are indexed by topic and include an annotation to the particular rule(s) involved. The book is no longer in print, but Missouri Bar members may view the deskbook and supplement in the Forms Bank. Formal opinions published since 1996 are available on the Supreme Court of Missouri’s website.

Requesting an Informal Advisory Opinion or Formal Opinion

To request an Informal Advisory Opinion or Formal Opinion, please visit the website of the Office of Legal Ethics Counsel and Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court of Missouri for more information here.

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