| |
Syllabus
It is improper for a practicing attorney who is also a licensed certified public accountant to hold himself out as qualified to practice law and accounting.
The following question was submitted to the Colorado Bar Association Ethics Committee by the Denver Bar Grievance Committee, to wit: Is a lawyer who is licensed to practice law and who is also a certified public accountant licensed to practice accounting in violation of the Canons of Legal Ethics if he holds himself out as practicing both professions?
Opinion
A lawyer, who is also a CPA, may perform, as an incident to his law practice, services which are primarily accounting services without violating the Canons. He may not properly hold himself out as practicing both professions since this would constitute an advertisement of a specialty, self-touting and a feeder-operation in violation of Canon 27 as construed in our opinions. (Colorado Bar Association E&G No. 1, Opinions 10, 36, 39: See also ABA Opinions 239, 269, 272, 297, and 305.) Obviously, the same prohibition applies to partnerships between lawyers and CPAs where any part of the services furnished by the partnership consists of the practice of law.
Our conclusion is further supported by the fact that the traditional roles of the attorney and the CPA are so often inconsistent and conflicting that dual practice should not be sanctioned. A lawyer is traditionally an advocate; indeed the Canons of Ethics provide that "the lawyer owes 'entire devotion to the interest of the client, warm zeal in the maintenance and defense of his rights and the exertion of his utmost learning and ability' to the end that nothing be taken or be withheld from him, save by the rules of law, legally applied." Canon 15. The certified public accountant, on the other hand, traditionally professes independence. Implicit in such independence is recognition that the accountant's certificate may be relied upon by third persons or the public and may involve disclosures possibly inimical to the interests of the client. It is the opinion of the Committee, therefore, that the lawyer-CPA serving as advocate may create a misleading appearance, to his client and the public, of independence which in fact may not obtain if, as lawyer, he discharges properly his obligations under Canon 15.
Committee members Anderson, Bain, Barnhill, Burns, Campbell, Crouse, Frazin, Hawthorne, Horan, Keller, Mitchem, Phelps, Sherwood, Thomas, Williams and Woodward concur in this opinion; members Arnold, Berman, Cawelti, Kasic, Roushar and Wilson dissent, and members Cook and Sears abstain.
|
Cart - empty 
