Page 352 - 2019 Orientation Manual

LCAF paid $149,534.03 in connection with 31 claims. As of April 23, 2019, LCAF paid
$16,200.00 in connection with 5 claims.

Ethics Advisory Service

The Ethics Advisory Service provides confidential, informal, non-binding advice and
opinions on matters of legal ethics to all eligible LSBA members (i.e., law license is active and
in good standing with the LSBA). The service is provided by the Ethics Advisory Service
Committee, with the assistance of the LSBA’s Ethics Counsel. The Committee consists of
approximately 37 volunteer members of the LSBA.
Lawyers seeking advice or written opinions on matters of legal ethics may telephone, e-
mail, fax or write letters to Ethics Counsel with their requests for advice/opinions. The request
must pertain to the lawyer’s own prospective conduct—the Ethics Advisory Service does not
evaluate or comment upon past or on-going conduct, on matters which are themselves the subject
of pending litigation or disciplinary action, or on the conduct of a lawyer other than that of the
requesting lawyer. Requests that are routine or of a repetitive nature can be answered by Ethics
Counsel almost immediately and without review by the Committee. The balance of requests are
processed, on average, within five to ten working days of their receipt—Ethics Counsel will
formulate a draft written response, which is then reviewed by a rotating duty panel of three
Committee members; when the duty panel agrees unanimously on the draft response, a final
written opinion is issued to the requesting lawyer. More complex requests, especially those for
which the duty panel cannot agree upon a written response, tend to take longer and are reviewed
by an Executive Review Group of nine volunteer members of the Committee. On average, Ethics
Counsel receives approximately 1200 -1300 telephone inquiries for advice per year, in addition
to approximately 450 -600 written inquiries/requests per year most of which are answered by
email. In calendar year 2008, Ethics Counsel rendered approximately 50 written advisory
opinions. Only a handful of matters are sent to a duty panel. All written advisory opinions are
labeled “not for publication” and provided only to the original requesting lawyer.

Publications Subcommittee
The Publications Subcommittee, with the assistance of Ethics Counsel, regularly reviews
select ethics advisory opinions for issues and topics of interest, importance and/or significance to
the general bar which are not highly fact-sensitive, with an eye towards developing them into
advisory opinions which may be published for the benefit of the general bar. There are
approximately 21 volunteer members of the Publications Subcommittee, all also serve as
members of the Ethics Advisory Service Committee. Public Ethics Advisory Opinions are
revised, fully developed and researched by Ethics Counsel or one member of the Publications
Subcommittee, under review of the whole Publications Subcommittee, in order to make the
opinions suitable for publication, making every effort to promote and maintain confidentiality of
the parties involved. Those opinions approved for publication are designated thereon as
“PUBLIC,” assigned a numerical reference and published on the LSBA website and offered for
publication in the Louisiana Bar Journal. Approximately nineteen Public Ethics Advisory
Opinions have been published on the LSBA website since the Spring of 2005: 05-RPCC-001,
Lawyer Retirement—Ethical Requirements to Client; 05-RPCC-002, Contingency Fees in
Domestic Relations Cases; 05-RPCC-003, Surrender of Client File Upon Termination of
Representation; 05-RPCC-004, Safekeeping the Property of Clients and Third Parties; 05-
RPCC-005, Lawyer Providing “Hotline” Advice in the Wake of a Natural Disaster (published on
an expedited basis, following Hurricane Katrina); 05-RPCC-006, Client Confidentiality vs.
Subpoena/Court Order to Testify; 05-RPCC-007, Lawyer as a Witness; 06-RPCC-008, Client
File Retention; 06-RPCC-009, Funds or Property of Missing Client; 06-RPCC-010, Lawyer’s
Duty to Report Professional Misconduct of Another Lawyer; 07-RPCC-011, Conflicts of Interest
and the Part-Time Prosecutor, 07-RPCC-012, Identification of a Law Practice – Fictitious or
Trade Names, 07-RPCC-013, Sharing Office Space without Sharing Liabilities and conflicts, 07-
RPCC-014, Permissible Communications with Persons Already Represented by Counsel, 07-