Practice safe third-party opining

Your corporate client, LocalCorp, wants to borrow money. The lender needs certain assurances about LocalCorp before making the loan -- assurances supplied by you in the form of an opinion letter to the lender. Opinions provided to someone other than your client -- third-party opinions -- are important grease for the wheels of commerce. But "[l]awyers issuing these opinions encounter the risk of being sued...when fraud or other improper action by a transaction party [e.g., LocalCorp] arises after the transaction closes," writes Anthony J. Jacob in the latest issue of the ISBA's Corporations, Securities & Business Law newsletter. Fortunately, Anthony has prepared a handy checklist of things to consider before issuing a third-party opinion.