Ethics Hotline & Opinions

ETHICS DOCKET NO. 1989-45

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MARYLAND STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, INC.

COMMITTEE ON ETHICS

ETHICS DOCKET NO. 1989-45

Ethical considerations where attorney as landlord rents office space to other professionals


The Committee on Ethics of the Maryland State Bar Association has considered your inquiry and I have been requested to respond to you on behalf of the Committee. Your letter indicates that you are in the process of buying a large colonial house and that it is your intention to renovate the building into office space and to lease or sublet offices to other professionals. You request guidance as to whether there is an ethical concern with regard to attorneys sharing office space with non lawyers. Specifically, you asked whether you can lease space to professionals other than lawyers as long as you take the appropriate precautions to maintain confidentiality, such as securing your office and files from other practitioners.

Your letter implies that you will have no professional relationship with your tenants and that your sole relationship with them will be as landlord and tenant. With that presumption in mind, the Committee sees no ethical prohibition against your renting space to other professionals. You should, as you have recognized, be careful to maintain the confidentiality of your clients in light of the fact that you will have other persons in your office building who are unaffiliated with you in any way. Rule 1.6 of the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct addresses your obligations relating to confidentiality..

REFERENCES: Rule 1.6


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DISCLAIMER: Opinions of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) Ethics Committee are an uncompensated service of the MSBA. This Committee’s opinions are not binding on the Maryland Court of Appeals, Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission, MSBA or this Committee. The reader is advised that subsequent judicial opinions, revisions to the rules of professional conduct, and future opinions of this Committee may render the Opinions stated herein outdated. As such, the Committee’s opinions are advisory only and neither the Committee nor the MSBA assumes any liability whatsoever with respect thereto. Accordingly, reliance upon the opinions of this Committee is solely at the risk of the user.