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ETHICS OPINION 267-1929
ETHICS OPINION 267
NUMBER 267 1929
Question. In the opinion of the Committee, may a lawyer with professional propriety accept the position of a trust officer in a bank, and be placed upon its payroll, and receive compensation from the bank for the performance of the duties of the position, and continue, at the same time, his private professional practice, at an office maintained by him for that purpose.
Answer. In the opinion of the Committee there is no impropriety necessarily suggested by the question. The lawyer, however, should not permit his practice, in either capacity, to interfere with the performance of his duties in the other; and where any such inconsistency arises, he should refrain from conduct which will violate such duty.
The situation should not be used as a cloak for improprieties which the Committee has frequently disapproved, for example, the improper exploitation of the professional services of the lawyer, or solicitation by or for him of professional employment, or the division of professional fees or the practice of law by the bank, In any dealings for a client with the bank, the lawyer’s relation to each should be frankly disclosed to each.