Formal Opinion 31.
Sharing Offices
(1954)

You have given to the Committee a number of instances where an attorney maintains an office in an outlying district part of each week, and in doing so shares office space with others who do real estate and insurance business. You have also cited an instance where a firm maintains a full-time office and an insurance salesman shares part of their office space in the same building and uses the attorney's waiting room. You have asked whether this procedure violates the Canons of Ethics.

We previously wrote an opinion covering this subject matter, wherein we stated that we did not believe such procedure violated the Canons of Ethics. It is our present opinion that where the two businesses are separate and apart and the attorney has no interest in the other's business, the sharing of a common waiting room, or the use of common space, does not violate the Canons of Ethics.