November 4, 2008 VIA FACSIMILE (561) 820-8777 & U.S. MAIL Ms. Assistant United States Attorney Southern District of Florida West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 Re: Ethics Inquiry 28386 Dear Ms. I received your request for an advisory ethics opinion dated September 18, 2008. You ask whether you violated Rule 4-7.4, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, by complying with your statutory obligation to contact victims to inform them of the resolution of their matters and by complying with a court order to advise them that the services of an independent attorney- representative would be offered to them free of charge. Unfortunately, I cannot provide the opinion you requested, because you are asking about your past conduct and legal questions that relate to your obligations under federal statutes and a court order. Florida Bar ethics attorneys are only authorized to provide opinions regarding an attorney's own future conduct. We are not authorized to render opinions concerning an attorney's past conduct or legal questions. See Procedures 2 (a)(1)(B) and 2(a)(1)(D), Florida Bar Procedures for Ruling on Questions of Ethics (www.floridabar.org ). Although I cannot provide an opinion, I can discuss the relevant rules. Generally speaking, Rule 4-7.4 (a), prohibits an attorney from soliciting clients in person or through an agent, or in writing without complying with the attorney advertising rules, if the lawyer's primary motive is pecuniary gain, and states: (a) Solicitation. Except as provided in subdivision (b) of this rule, a lawyer shall not solicit professional employment from a prospective client with whom the lawyer has no family or prior professional relationship, in person or otherwise, when a significant motive for the lawyer's doing so is the lawyer's pecuniary gain. A lawyer shall not permit employees or agents of the lawyer to solicit in the lawyer's behalf. A lawyer shall not enter into an agreement for, charge, or collect a fee for professio