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ETHICS OPINION 632-1974 SOLICITATION: CIRCULATING QUESTIONNAIRE
NUMBER 632
QUESTION.
The attorney for a tenant who was seriously Injured when attacked In her apartment in a large housing complex desires to establish notice to the landlord of the conditions which existed in the complex by reason of the many crimes committed therein. Would it be proper for the attorney to place a questionnaire in the letter drop of each tenant in the complex inquiring if the tenant had knowledge of any other crimes committed on the premises within the past three years and requesting details of such crimes? The questionnaire would bear the attorney’s name and telephone number and be returnable to a designated box. It would merely state that an investigation was being conducted and would not give the attorney’s address or indicate his profession.
ANSWER.
Under the circumstances outlined in the question and the procedure proposed to be followed, it does not appear that there would be any violation of any of the disciplinary rules involving the solicitation of business.
Obviously it would be improper for the attorney to contact a tenant who answers a questionnaire with a view to making a claim on behalf of such tenant, or to render services to such a tenant at the tenant’s behest. All that appears to be involved in the inquiry, however, is an investigative technique which seems unexceptionable.
September 23, 1974.