Ethics Helpline for Registered Maine Attorneys

Monday, Wednesday and Friday
11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
207-623-1122

The Board of Overseers of the Bar provides assistance to Maine attorneys through its "Ethics Helpline". Intended for attorney use only, staff attorneys assists members of the bar by providing confidential informal advisory opinions concerning the interpretation or applicability of the Maine Bar Rules and/or Maine Rules of Professional Conduct.

If you call when the helpline is closed, be sure to leave a brief message with your name, bar number, and phone number. Your call should be returned no later than the following business day.

Frequently asked questions include:

• "Do I have a conflict of interest?"
• "Who is my client?"
• "How do I go about sharing a fee with another attorney?"
• "My basement is full of old client files. What can I do with them?"
• "I am changing firms. What can I say to "my" clients?"
• "When may I list a new associate on my letterhead or web site, before admitted to the bar or only after?"

Pursuant to Board Regulation No. 28, Bar Counsel provides the inquiring attorney with an assessment of the apparent propriety or prohibition under the [former] Code and/or Maine Rules of Professional Responsibility of the described conduct of that inquiring attorney or another member of that attorney's law firm. However, under that Regulation, Bar Counsel is prohibited from advising an inquiring attorney about another attorney's supposed or "hypothetical" conduct.