Formal Opinion 21.
Attorney's Communication With 0pposite Party
(1953)

You asked for the opinion of the Committee on Legal Ethics on the following state of facts taken from an affidavit, to-wit:

"***that at the request of her husband she went to the office of ___________ on the 14th day of October 1952, that ____________ gave her a copy of a property settlement agreement which he had drawn and also a copy to her husband and then read aloud to them from a third copy of the agreement; that he informed her that she might take the agreement to her attorney which she did ***"

Canon No. 9 provides in part:

"A lawyer should not in any way communicate upon the subject of controversy with a party represented by counsel; much less should he undertake to negotiate or compromise the matter with him, but should deal only with his counsel."

It is the opinion of the majority of the committee that the lawyer in question did violate the plain language of the Canon: to permit the person to come to his office, and then read to her a proposed settlement in the absence of the person's counsel.

The lawyer's suggestion that the person might take the proposed agreement for settlement to the person's attorney did remove the most serious aspects of the matter; but, nevertheless, if the facts as stated in the affidavit are correct, the lawyer did violate the Canon quoted above in not dealing only with the person's counsel.