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Syllabus
It is improper for a lawyer to engage in a real estate brokerage business which is not separate and distinct from his law practice.
Facts
A lawyer conducts a real estate brokerage business from his law office, in the same name as his true name, advertises the real estate business in his true name, and represents clients coming to him in matters originating as real estate transactions.
Opinion
The principal problem arising from a lawyer engaging in business occupations which are closely related to or concerned with the practice of law is the ethical prohibition against solicitation and advertising. This takes two forms: promotion of the lawyer's name, and use of the related lay business to feed clients to the law practice. It is the opinion of this Committee that violations of Canon 27 would inevitably result from the fact situation set forth.
A number of ethical improprieties could well occur. For example, a lawyer could not represent as a lawyer either party to a transaction initiated by him as a real estate broker as this would clearly be a "feeder" operation, a real estate commission could not be charged in any transaction which originated as a legal matter (see Opinion No. 26, of the Colorado Bar Association Ethics Committee), and a lawyer could not engage in a real estate brokerage business with a non-lawyer partner without violating Canons 33, 34, 35 and possibly 47.
A more complete discussion of this general problem, wherein substantially the same result is achieved, can be found in Informal Decisions 682, 775, and 931, of the American Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics.
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