It may seem simple: a client asks its attorney to investigate and provide the client with a legal opinion. Such a task may seem straightforward and one of the most customary services provided by attorneys. However, depending on the circumstances, some unexpected ethical issues may arise even in connection with a seemingly simple or straightforward legal opinion.

In particular, when an attorney is retained to provide an evaluation of a matter, knowing that the evaluation will be shared with third parties, it represents something of a deviation from the normal attorney-client relationship. The risk is that the attorney could be caught between two potentially competing interests in the evaluation: to render an impartial opinion so that the client can benefit from candid advice but also to ensure that the evaluation does not contain any information that will harm the client when shared with third parties.