Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

The Changing Role Of The Attorney With Respect To The Corporation, Wilton S. Sogg, Michael L. Solomon

Cleveland State Law Review

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once stated that "the propriety of a lawyer serving as a member of the Board of Directors of his corporate client remains, even today, a vexing problem of professional responsibility.” Historically, accountants have been assumed, as well as required, to be independent of any enterprise in which they express an opinion regarding the enterprise's financial statements. Independence had been interpreted to mean that accountants may not serve on the board of directors or invest in any enterprise which they, or their firm, audit, or for whom either expresses an opinion on the enterprise's financial statements. …