Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 2.1 · Chapter 2. Counselor
Advisor
Text — 2026 edition, as the State Bar of California publishes it (read October 22, 2026)
In representing a client, a lawyer shall exercise independent professional judgment and render candid advice.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
Comment
[1] 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.
[2] This rule does not preclude a lawyer who renders advice from referring to considerations other than the law, such as moral, economic, social and political factors that may be relevant to the client’s situation.
Source of truth
- Edition
- 2026 edition, as the State Bar of California publishes it (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://www.calbar.ca.gov/sites/default/files/portals/0/documents/rules/Rules-of-Professional-Conduct.pdf (PDF pages 43)
- Text hash
- sha256 1ac6147d7ae48d4dbbdd49d5b1ca28444c32c0aca6cb31f143b5a72b2a818206
- Composed by
- rpc/build 2026-10-22: the State Bar's 2026 PDF (pages 12-71) read by two readers, PyMuPDF glyph positions and pdfminer with the PDF's tagged structure, agreeing on 834 of 843 paragraphs character for character, the other nine (paragraph boundaries only) resolved against the rendered page; 205,485 printed glyphs accounted for; the State Bar's chapter pages a third reading
Cited by 3 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 2.1. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
California Rules of Professional Conduct
- Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 1.8.10Sexual Relations with Current ClientPrinted as rules 1.1, 1.7, and 2.1
- Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 5.4Financial and Similar Arrangements with NonlawyersPrinted as rules 1.7 and 2.1
- Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 7.2AdvertisingPrinted as rules 2.1 and 5.4(c)
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.