Professional Ethics.

• Author: Middleton, Jean Marie
• Position: Annual Reports of Committees of the Florida Bar: 2018-2019

The Professional Ethics Committee is responsible for providing guidance to Bar members on the Rules of Professional Conduct. Formal committee opinions are available on the Bar's website at www.floridabar. org. The committee also provides informational packets and topical information on the website. A link to "Rules & Ethics" is included at the top of every page of the website. This link leads to a landing page with a link to the main ethics page, which includes links for formal ethics opinions, the Rules of Professional Conduct, informational packets, Bar News and Journal articles on ethics issues, and other topical information relating to lawyer ethics.

The committee is staffed by the Bar's Ethics Department. The Bar's ethics attorneys research and draft informal staff opinions and maintain the toll-free ethics hotline for Bar members. The committee reviews informal written opinions issued by the Bar's ethics attorneys and reconsiders them sua sponte if the committee deems appropriate or if the inquiring attorney seeks review of the informal staff opinion. In addition, the committee sponsors an annual professional ethics seminar. The committee met three times this year to consider a variety of ethics issues.

* Formal Advisory Opinion Procedures --The Florida Bar Procedures for Ruling on Questions of Ethics govern the process by which staff issue informal oral and written opinions and by which the committee issues formal opinions. The committee may issue formal opinions on review of staff opinions and existing formal opinions. Additionally, the Board of Governors may request that the committee issue a formal opinion concerning the application of the ethics rules to certain facts. When issuing proposed formal opinions, the committee publishes official notice in The Florida Bar News, inviting Bar members to comment. The committee values the input provided by these comments and encourages Bar members to comment on proposed ethics opinions. The procedures are available on The Florida Bar's website at www.floridabar.org by choosing the "Rules & Ethics" link and then "Ethics" on the resulting landing page.

* Final Advisory Opinion--Advisory Opinion 18-2. This opinion addresses whether a lawyer may charge a lawful rate of interest to a client on costs advanced by the lawyer. The inquiring lawyer represented a client on a contingency fee in a personal injury matter. The contingency fee agreement made the client's repayment of costs advanced by the...