New ethics opinions available on accepting gifts, dealing with clients’ staff, and supporting specialty courts
Three new ethics opinions provide guidance to Michigan attorneys and judges on accepting gifts from clients, communicating with a client’s staff or volunteers, and judges’ support of specialty courts.
Released by the committees on Professional Ethics and Judicial Ethics, all opinions are advisory and non-binding. They are intended to help Michigan attorneys navigate complex ethics issues and understand potential implications.
Opinion RI-395
Lawyers can accept gifts from clients, as long as they do not solicit the gift and the gift is independent of the legal services provided. Based on the reasoning of CI-1011(1984), unsolicited gifts are not considered part of contingency fees and therefore are not prohibited under MRPC 1.5.
Attorneys should obtain a signed statement from the gift giver indicating that the gift is being made voluntarily, which can be used as evidence if the gift is questioned as a potential excessive fee under MRPC 1.5.
Opinion RI-396
Attorneys who represent an organization should clarify that they represent the organization and, unless otherwise agreed upon, not its individual board members or constituents. The opinion references MRPC.3(a), 1.13(a) and 1.13(d), which require attorneys to “take reasonable steps to ensure that constituents understand that the lawyer represents the organization and not the constituents as individuals.”
To avoid confusion, the attorney should advise individual board members and constituents that the attorney:
- Represents only the organization, not the constituents.
- Renders advice to the organization through the constituents, not to, or for the benefit of, the constituents.
- Renders legal services in the interests of the organization and not necessarily those of the constituents.
- Does not represent the individual constituents, and where applicable, advise constituents to seek independent legal advice about how a proposed course of conduct will affect their personal legal interests.
Opinion JI-160
Judges can participate in activities that support the mission of a specialty court that they serve. However, judges cannot solicit funds or contributions, permit court staff to solicit funds, or permit the use of the “prestige of judicial office” to advance fundraising efforts.
Courts can accept unsolicited donations and use third party entities to conduct fundraising — provided those entities have adequate safeguards. Judges may also apply for grants specifically tailored to establish or maintain specialty courts, problem solving courts, and court-annexed programs from State or Federal Funding Agencies.
Posted: October 14, 2026