Cincinnati Bar Ass'n v. Hovey

The principle of loyalty is fundamental to the attorney-client relationship and underlies the conflict-of-interest provisions of the Code of Professional Ethics. Our Ethical Considerations provide in EC 5-3 that a lawyer should not “make improper use of his professional relationship to influence his client to invest in an enterprise in which the lawyer is interested.” These considerations of loyalty require that all transactions between a lawyer and a client be objectively fair to the client. Also, the lawyer must ensure that the client has had an opportunity to consult independent counsel…