Ethics Committee
The Colorado Bar Association Ethics Committee is a standing committee of the Colorado Bar Association, staffed by up to 100 Colorado attorneys, existing for the purpose of giving ethics advice to Colorado attorneys. The Committee issues Formal Ethics Opinions concerning topics of general interest, which are published in the Colorado Lawyer and within our online Ethics Formal Opinion directory. The Committee, as a whole, will answer requests for private ethics advice (subject to certain exceptions such as those listed below) as “Informal Letter Opinions”. Both Opinion Requests and Private Letter Requests can be submitted via the email link below. Email submissions should indicate whether an Informal Private Letter or a Formal Opinion is requested.
For more immediate advice, attorneys may call the CBA Offices to request contact information for volunteer members of the Ethics Hot Line, to engage in a brief discussion of the issue(s). Hotline Responses are solely the opinions of individual Committee members and not considered the opinions of the entire Committee.
The Ethics Committee is NOT associated with the Colorado Supreme Court, the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, the Attorney Regulation Committee, or the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Committee Opinions, whether informal written opinions or published formal Ethics Opinions, are issued for advisory purposes only and are not in any way binding on the Colorado Supreme Court, the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, the Attorney Regulation Committee, Attorney Regulation Counsel, or the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel and do not provide protection against disciplinary actions.
Pursuant to its by-laws, the Committee is not obliged to respond to questions:
- about completed conduct;
- about another attorney's conduct;
- about law rather than ethics;
- about matters in litigation;
- from a non-attorney;
- when the inquirer (e.g. caller) will not identify him or herself.