Third-party "closing" opinions

A Report of the TriBar Opinion Committee is about legal opinion letters that lawyers in business transaction render to non-clients. Among the issues covered by the report are: 1. the content of opinion letters, 2. the procedures opinion givers follow when conducting the factual and legal investigations required to support their opinions, and 3. the meaning of language often used in opinion letters. Substantial business transactions often involve the delivery of an opinion letter to parties to the transaction who are not the opinion giver's client. These opinion letters usually are delivered at a closing and cover a number of legal and factual issues.