a. Requests for Advisory Opinions. Any person may request an advisory opinion from the Commission relating to the authority of a nonlawyer to perform legal and law-related services. Such requests shall be in writing in a form and manner prescribed by the Commission and signed by the person requesting the opinion. Neb. Ct. R. § 3-1012(D).

   b. Commission Initiated Advisory Opinions. The Commission may render advisory opinions relating to the authority of nonlawyers to perform legal and law-related services in connection with the consideration of any complaint or in any investigation made on its own initiative relating to the unauthorized practice of law by any person or entity.

   c. Notice of Request. The Commission may give notice to any person or entity, either personally or by publication, of any pending request for an advisory opinion or pending Commission-initiated advisory opinion, and invite written comments regarding the pending advisory opinion.

   d. Pending Controversy. The Commission may not render an advisory opinion in any matter that, to its knowledge, is the subject of or might affect a case or controversy pending in any court or administrative proceeding, including an attorney disciplinary proceeding.

   e. Public Hearing. The Commission may conduct a public hearing at a date and time and in a manner set by the Commission, designed to make it accessible to interested parties as determined by the Commission, on any request for an advisory opinion or a Commission initiated advisory opinion.

   f. Commission Action. Upon receipt of a proper request for an advisory opinion, the Commission may issue an advisory opinion or proposed advisory opinion, or may decline to issue an advisory opinion. If the Commission issues an advisory opinion, it shall be in writing and shall be transmitted to the person making the request, or in the case of a Commission initiated advisory opinion, it may be transmitted to any person(s) determined by the Commission for whose benefit or detriment the advisory opinion was issued.

   g. Publication of Advisory Opinions. The Commission may arrange for the publication of advisory opinions in the Nebraska Lawyer magazine, on the NSBA Web site, on the Nebraska Supreme Court Web site, or elsewhere as it deems appropriate. Opinions so published shall not, insofar as practicable, identify the party or parties making the inquiry, the complainant, or the respondent without the written permission of the party or parties making the request.

VIII.g. amendment approved December 3, 2013, effective April 1, 2014.