RPC RULE 2.1
                             ADVISOR


  In representing a client, a lawyer shall exercise independent
professional judgment and render candid advice. In rendering advice, a
lawyer may refer not only to law but to other considerations such as moral,
economic, social and political factors, that may be relevant to the
client's situation.

Comment

Scope of Advice

  [1] A client is entitled to straightforward advice expressing the
lawyer's honest assessment. Legal advice often involves unpleasant facts
and alternatives that a client may be disinclined to confront. In
presenting advice, a lawyer endeavors to sustain the client's morale and
may put advice in as acceptable a form as honesty permits. However, a
lawyer should not be deterred from giving candid advice by the prospect
that the advice will be unpalatable to the client.

  [2] Advice couched in narrow legal terms may be of little value to a
client, especially where practical considerations, such as cost or effects
on other people, are predominant. Purely technical legal advice, therefore,
can sometimes be inadequate. It is proper for a lawyer to refer to relevant
moral and ethical considerations in giving advice. Although a lawyer is not
a moral advisor as such, moral and ethical considerations impinge upon most
legal questions and may decisively influence how the law will be applied.

  [3] A client may expressly or impliedly ask the lawyer for purely
technical advice. When such a request is made by a client experienced in
legal matters, the lawyer may accept it at face value. When such a request
is made by a client inexperienced in legal matters, however, the lawyer's
responsibility as advisor may include indicating that more may be involved
than strictly legal considerations.

  [4] Matters that go beyond strictly legal questions may also be in the
domain of another profession. Family matters can involve problems within
the professional competence of psychiatry, clinical psychology or social
work; business matters can involve problems within the competence of the
accounting profession or of financial specialists. Where consultation with
a professional in another field is itself something a competent lawyer
would recommend, the lawyer should make such a recommendation. At the same
time, a lawyer's advice at its best often consists of recommending a course
of action in the face of conflicting recommendations of experts.

Offering Advice

   [5]  In general, a lawyer is not expected to give advice until asked  by
the client. However, when a lawyer knows that a client proposes a course of
action  that  is likely to result in substantial adverse legal consequences
to  the  client, the lawyer's duty to the client under Rule 1.4 may require
that the lawyer offer advice if the client's course of action is related to
the   representation.  Similarly,  when  a  matter  is  likely  to  involve
litigation,  it  may be necessary under Rule 1.4 to inform  the  client  of
forms  of  dispute resolution that might constitute reasonable alternatives
to litigation. A lawyer ordinarily has no duty to initiate investigation of
a  client's  affairs  or to give advice that the client  has  indicated  is
unwanted,  but  a  lawyer may initiate advice to a  client  when  doing  so
appears to be in the client's interest.


[Amended effective September 1, 2006.]