08/14/2007
New York County Bar Association Concludes Lawyers May Ethically Have Investigators Use Dissemblance for Cases Involving Civil Rights or Intellectual Property Rights
NYCLA Committee on Professional Ethics Formal Opinion No. 737

Brief Summary

The NYCLA ethics committee concluded that although the New York Code of Professional Responsibility generally makes it unethical for a non-government lawyer to use or supervise an investigator who dissembles during an investigation, under certain very narrow exceptions, such dissemblance as to identity and purpose is permitted when investigators are acting as “testers” to gather evidence in civil rights or intellectual property rights cases.
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