New Jersey lawyers will be prohibited from beginning sexual relationships with clients under a new ethics rule adopted by the state Supreme Court.
The amendment to the Rules of Professional Conduct, announced Thursday, takes effect September 1 and creates a clear conflict-of-interest rule covering attorneys who become sexually involved with people they represent.
“A lawyer shall not have sexual relations with a client unless a consensual relationship existed between them when the client-lawyer relationship commenced,” the new rule states.
That exception allows an attorney to represent a spouse, romantic partner or someone with whom the lawyer already had a consensual sexual relationship. But consent alone will not permit a lawyer to begin a sexual relationship after taking on a client.
The restriction also applies to lawyers representing corporations, government agencies, nonprofits and other organizations. Those attorneys may not begin sexual relationships with members of an organization’s “litigation control group” — the officials responsible for directing or overseeing the legal matter.
The rule applies to any attorney who assists in representing the client, but it will not automatically extend to other lawyers in the same firm who have no role in the case.
New Jersey had been one of only ten states without an explicit rule prohibiting lawyers from having sexual relations with clients, according to the Supreme Court’s Professional Responsibility Rules Committee. The panel recommended adopting the restriction as part of its 2024-2026 report.
The prohibition is being added as paragraph (k) of Rule of Professional Conduct 1.8, which governs conflicts of interest and prohibited transactions between attorneys and clients.
The Supreme Court approved the amendment in its annual omnibus order revising New Jersey’s court and professional conduct rules.