This article is the second (of two) to consider New York City Bar Association Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics Formal Opinion 2023-1 (the Opinion) addressing “Attorney Departing From a Law Firm.” The Committee asks a broad question: “What are a lawyer’s and a law firm’s ethical obligations to each other and to clients when a lawyer plans to depart from a law firm?” The Committee first notes that:

“A typical attorney departure has three stages: (i) before the attorney who is planning to move has notified his or her current firm (the pre-notice period); (ii) the notice period, where the attorney has notified the firm but has not yet departed; and (iii) after departure (the post-departure period).