To address what government lawyers must do when they learn that a public official intends to violate the law, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 524 in July of this year. Opinion 524 is highly relevant for public colleges and universities, specifically institutional counsel and outside law firms representing postsecondary schools. It functionally lowers the threshold for when a public institution's lawyer must act in the face of unlawful conduct by officials.
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