Ethics/Rules of Professional Conduct

Need Ethics Advice?

After consulting the Rules of Professional Conduct and the relevant ethics opinions, if you continue to have questions about your professional responsibility, any lawyer may request informal advice from the ethics department of the State Bar by calling (919) 828-4620 or by emailing ethicsadvice@ncbar.gov.

Rules of Professional Conduct

All North Carolina lawyers must follow a code of ethics called the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Adopted Opinions

Ethics opinions are issued by the NC State Bar Council to provide ethical guidance to North Carolina lawyers and to establish principles of ethical conduct.

Index to Ethics Opinions

Proposed Rule Amendments

Proposed amendments to the Rules of the North Carolina State Bar (both the administrative rules and the Rules of Professional Conduct) are published for comment during the quarter after the North Carolina State Bar Council approves their publication. The proposed amendments are published in the North Carolina State Bar's Journal and on this website.

Proposed Opinions

Each quarter, the Ethics Committee of the State Bar Council votes to publish proposed ethics opinions for public comment. The proposed opinions are published in the State Bar's magazine, the Journal, and on this website. These are the proposed opinions published in the most recent edition of the Journal.

Ethics Articles

This is a collection of articles on legal ethics in North Carolina that have appeared in the NC State Bar's magazine, the Journal.

Review of Law Firm Websites