The Florida Bar Ethics Hotline is a free phone line where Florida Bar members can get informal guidance from staff ethics counsel about their own upcoming conduct. Call 800-235-8619, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern. If you can’t reach anyone during those hours, leave a message at 850-561-5780.1The Florida Bar. Ethics Hotline – Informal Advisory Opinions An automated menu routes you to the ethics advisory group, and you wait in a queue until a counsel is free. The line handles hundreds of calls a week, so expect some hold time.
Who Can Call
The hotline is for members of The Florida Bar in good standing asking about their own contemplated conduct. Lawyers admitted elsewhere who are authorized to provide legal services in Florida also qualify.2The Florida Bar. Florida Bar Procedures for Ruling on Questions of Ethics Ethics counsel will not take calls from clients, opposing parties, or anyone else asking about a different lawyer’s behavior.
If you are a member of the public who believes a Florida attorney acted improperly, the hotline is the wrong number. Contact the Bar’s Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP) at 866-352-0707 to request a complaint form.3The Florida Bar. File a Lawyer Complaint
What to Have Ready Before You Dial
Have a concise summary of the facts and the specific decision you’re weighing. Concrete questions get useful answers. “Can I represent this new client whose interests may conflict with a former client in this specific way?” gives counsel something to work with. A vague question about conflicts generally does not.
You don’t need to know the exact rule numbers that apply. Framing the issue is easier if you’ve looked at the Rules of Professional Conduct in Chapter 4 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, but that’s optional. The most common calls involve conflicts with current clients, duties to former clients, confidentiality, and communicating with people who already have a lawyer.4The Florida Bar. Ethics Hotline
Be candid and complete. Leaving out a material fact can undermine any later value the advice might have.
What the Hotline Won’t Address
Staff will not issue an opinion on:
- Past conduct. Only what you’re planning to do.
- Another lawyer’s conduct.
- Questions of substantive law.
- Procedural or court-rule questions.
- Matters already in active disciplinary proceedings.
Staff may also decline when the inquiry involves current litigation or raises a question with no existing precedent or Bar policy to draw from.2The Florida Bar. Florida Bar Procedures for Ruling on Questions of Ethics
How Much the Advice Protects You
Oral opinions from the hotline are advisory. They do not bind grievance committees, referees, or the Board of Governors, and they do not represent the Board’s official position.2The Florida Bar. Florida Bar Procedures for Ruling on Questions of Ethics Treat the call as an informed professional opinion from a colleague who knows the rules, not as a safe harbor.
The advice still has some weight if things go wrong. If you later face a Bar complaint and raise your reliance on a staff opinion as part of your defense, you can do that. The trade-off: ethics counsel may then disclose what you told them and what they advised to the grievance committee or referee handling your case.2The Florida Bar. Florida Bar Procedures for Ruling on Questions of Ethics Reliance on advice built from an incomplete account is unlikely to help you.
When to Ask for a Written Opinion Instead
If you want documentation of the question and the answer, the Ethics Department also issues written informal advisory opinions. Send your request, with the relevant facts and your specific question, to:
Florida Bar Ethics Department
651 E. Jefferson St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2300
Written informal opinions typically take three to five weeks.1The Florida Bar. Ethics Hotline – Informal Advisory Opinions They are also advisory rather than binding, but you walk away with a written record of what you asked and what staff concluded. For genuinely novel situations, this is the practical step up from a phone call.