Rule 2.1.Advisor 
 In representing a client, a lawyer shall exercise independent 
 professional judgment and render candid advice.  In rendering advice, a 
 lawyer may refer not only to law but to other considerations such as 
 moral, economic, social and political factors, that may be relevant to 
 the client's situation.  In a matter involving or expected to involve 
 litigation, a lawyer should advise the client of alternative forms of 
 dispute resolution which might reasonably be pursued to attempt to 
 resolve the legal dispute or to reach the legal objective sought. 
  
 

                                                                
ANNOTATIONSCOMMENT 
 Scope of Advice 
 A client is entitled to straightforward advice expressing the 
 lawyer's honest assessment.  Legal advice often involves unpleasant 
 facts and alternatives that a client may be disinclined to confront.  In 
 presenting advice, a lawyer endeavors to sustain the client's morale and 
 may put advice in as acceptable a form as honesty permits.  However, a 
 lawyer should not be deterred from giving candid advice by the prospect 
 that the advice will be unpalatable to the client. 
  
 Advice couched in narrowly legal terms may be of little value to a 
 client, especially where practical considerations, such as cost or 
 effects on other people, are predominant.  Purely technical legal 
 advice, therefore, can sometimes be inadequate.  It is proper for a 
 lawyer to refer to relevant moral and ethical considerations in giving 
 advice.  Although a lawyer is not a moral advisor as such, moral and 
 ethical considerations impinge upon most legal questions and may 
 decisively influence how the law will be applied. 
  
 A client may expressly or impliedly ask the lawyer for purely 
 technical advice.  When such a request is made by a client experienced 
 in legal matters, the lawyer may accept it at face value.  When such a 
 request is made by a client inexperienced in legal matters, however, the 
 lawyer's responsibility as advisor may include indicating that more may 
 be involved than strictly legal considerations. 
  
 Matters that go beyond strictly legal questions may also be in the 
 domain of another profession.  Family matters can involve problems 
 within the professional competence of psychiatry, clinical psychology or 
 social work; business matters can involve problems within the competence 
 of the accounting profession or of financial specialists.  Where 
 consultation with a professional in another field is itself something a 
 competent lawyer would recommend, the lawyer should make such a 
 recommendation.  At the same time, a lawyer's advice at its best often 
 consists of recommending a course of action in the face of conflicting 
 recommendations of experts. 
  
 Offering Advice 
 In general, a lawyer is not expected to give advice until asked by 
 the client.  However, when a lawyer knows that a client proposes a 
 course of action that is likely to result in substantial adverse legal 
 consequences to the client, duty to the client under Rule 1.4 may 
 require that the lawyer act as if the client's course of action is 
 related to the representation.  A lawyer ordinarily has no duty to 
 initiate investigation of a client's affairs or to give advice that the 
 client has indicated is unwanted, but a lawyer may initiate advice to a 
 client when doing so appears to be in the client's interest. 
  
 A lawyer should exert the lawyer's best efforts to insure that 
 decisions of the client are made only after the client has been informed 
 of relevant considerations.  Advice of a lawyer to the client need not 
 be confined to purely legal considerations.  A lawyer should advise each 
 client of the possible effect of each legal alternative.  A lawyer 
 should bring to bear upon this decision making process the fullness of 
 the lawyer's experience as well as the lawyer's objective viewpoint.  In 
 assisting a client to reach a proper decision, it is often desirable for 
 a lawyer to point out those factors which may lead to a decision that is 
 morally just as well as legally permissible.  The lawyer may emphasize 
 the possibility of harsh consequences that might result from assertion 
 of legally permissible positions.  In the final analysis, however, the 
 lawyer should always remember that the decision whether to forego 
 legally available objectives or methods because of nonlegal factors is 
 ultimately for the client and not for the lawyer.  In the event that the 
 client in a nonadjudicatory matter insists upon a course of conduct that 
 is contrary to the judgment and advice of the lawyer but not prohibited 
 by Disciplinary Rules, the lawyer may withdraw from the employment. 
  
 The last sentence of Rule 2.1 addresses the issue of alternative 
 dispute resolution ("ADR").  Common forms of ADR include arbitration, 
 mediation, and negotiations.  Depending upon the circumstances, it may 
 be appropriate for the lawyer to discuss with the client factors such as 
 cost, speed, effects on existing relationships, confidentiality and 
 privacy, scope of relief, statutes of limitation, and relevant 
 procedural rules and statutes. 
  
 COMMITTEE COMMENT 
 This provision is consistent with the Code except that it raises 
 the consideration of the providing of non-legal advice to a rule, while 
 the Code treats the subject matter only as aspirational, in EC 7-8, 
 which provision has been added as the penultimate paragraph of the Comment.