TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Sep 28, 2022

The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released a formal opinion today that seeks to clarify interpretation of the ABA model rule related to a lawyer’s communication with represented persons when the lawyer is self-representing or pursuing the case pro se. Formal Opinion 502 states that under ABA Model Rule 4.2, lawyers who represent themselves may not communicate directly, under most circumstances, with a represented person about the matter. The opinion makes it clear that the self-representing or pro se lawyer must communicate with the represented person through the other person’s lawyer unless the communication is authorized by law or court order or consented to by the person’s lawyer. The committee said the clarification was necessary as application of the rule to pro se lawyers was not clear.

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