The ABA Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility on Friday released Opinion 513, which offers detailed guidelines for detecting and avoiding involvement in a client’s criminal activity.

Opinion 513 Formal Opinion 513 (americanbar.org) addresses the latest revisions to Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.16, which were approved in August 2023.

The revisions arose from concerns about lawyers “being pulled into clients’ criminal transactions, such as money laundering and terrorist financing,” the ABA noted in a statement.