Yes, lawyers can accept gifts from clients, but only within tight limits. A small token of thanks is fine. Anything substantial runs into ABA Model Rule 1.8(c), which bars lawyers from asking for a significant gift or from drafting the will, trust, or deed that gives them one. And even a large gift a client offers entirely on their own can later be voided in court, because gifts from clients to lawyers are treated as presumptively fraudulent.
Small Gifts Are Fine
Modest tokens of appreciation don’t raise ethical concerns. The ABA commentary specifically lists holiday presents and tokens of appreciation as the kind of gestures that fall within acceptable bounds.
In practice, that covers things like a bottle of wine after a case wraps up, a holiday gift basket, or a thank-you card with a small gift card tucked inside. The common thread is that the value is low enough that no reasonable person would view the gift as creating an obligation or influencing the lawyer’s judgment.
There Is No Set Dollar Limit
Neither the ABA Model Rules nor the official commentary draws a line at a specific dollar amount for when a gift becomes “substantial.” The answer depends on context: the size of the gift relative to the client’s means, the nature of the legal work, and whether the gift could reasonably look like it might sway the lawyer. A $200 gift from a corporate client reads very differently than the same gift from someone on a fixed income. The ambiguity is deliberate, and it means both sides have to use judgment in gray areas.
What a Lawyer Cannot Do
ABA Model Rule 1.8(c) draws two firm lines. A lawyer cannot solicit any substantial gift from a client, including a gift through a will. And a lawyer cannot prepare a legal document that gives the lawyer, or someone related to the lawyer, a substantial gift from the client. Both lines apply unless the recipient is a close relative of the client.
The distinction between accepting and soliciting matters. The rule does not flatly ban a lawyer from accepting a substantial gift a client offers without any prompting. The ABA commentary says plainly that when a client offers a more substantial gift on their own, the rule “does not prohibit the lawyer from accepting it.” What is forbidden is the lawyer suggesting, requesting, or hinting at such a gift, and the lawyer being the one who drafts the instrument that transfers it.
This restriction extends to every lawyer at the firm. Under Rule 1.8(k), if one lawyer at a firm cannot solicit or draft a gift involving a particular client, no other lawyer at that firm can either. A client cannot work around the rule by walking down the hall to a different attorney in the same office.
Why a Large Gift Can Be Voided Later
Even when the ethics rules technically allow a lawyer to accept an unsolicited gift, a separate body of law makes substantial client gifts risky. The doctrine of undue influence treats gifts from clients to lawyers as presumptively fraudulent. The ABA commentary states this directly: such gifts “may be voidable by the client under the doctrine of undue influence, which treats client gifts as presumptively fraudulent.”
The Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers puts it even more bluntly: “the lawyer-donee bears a heavy burden of persuasion that the gift is fair and not the product of overreaching or otherwise an imposition upon the client.”
What that means in practice: if anyone later challenges the gift, the lawyer has to prove the client acted freely and without pressure. The challenge can come from the client’s family, an estate executor, or a court, and it can come years after the gift was made. The presumption exists because clients trust their lawyers with sensitive information, rely on their judgment, and may feel a sense of obligation or dependency. Courts recognize that even well-meaning lawyers can unconsciously influence a client’s generosity, so the burden sits squarely on the lawyer to show the gift was legitimate.
Many states layer on additional barriers through statute, sometimes requiring certification from an independent attorney that the gift was not procured through fraud or undue influence before a lawyer can inherit from a client.
The Family Exception
The prohibition falls away when the client is closely related to the lawyer. Under Rule 1.8(c), “related persons” include a spouse, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, or any other relative or individual with whom the lawyer or client maintains a close, familial relationship.
So a lawyer who drafts a will for a parent that includes a bequest to the lawyer is not violating the rule. The reasoning is simple: gifts between close family members come from the family bond, not from the professional relationship, so the risk of a lawyer using their position to extract gifts from a relative is presumed to be much lower.
The ABA does not spell out exactly which non-immediate relationships qualify beyond the named categories. The catch-all language could cover siblings, aunts, uncles, domestic partners, or longtime close friends who function like family, but the lack of a rigid list means a lawyer relying on this exception for someone outside the named categories should be confident the relationship would hold up to scrutiny.
If You Want to Make a Substantial Gift
Clients sometimes do want to leave a lawyer a meaningful gift, whether out of long-standing gratitude or because the lawyer has become a trusted figure in their life. The ABA guidance for that situation is clear. The client should get independent advice from a separate lawyer who has no stake in the outcome. That outside lawyer can then prepare the will, trust, or other legal document if the client still wants to proceed.
This serves two purposes. The client gets unbiased counsel about whether the gift makes sense. And the original lawyer avoids the appearance of self-dealing, which protects the gift itself from being set aside later. Skipping this step is what tends to turn a well-intentioned bequest into a bar complaint or a successful challenge in probate court.
Tax Treatment
A genuine gift from a client to a lawyer generally does not count as taxable income to the lawyer under standard gift tax rules. The IRS treats a gift as any transfer where the giver does not receive full value in return, and the giver, not the recipient, is responsible for any gift tax owed. For 2026, each person can give up to $19,000 per recipient per year without triggering gift tax reporting.
The IRS looks at substance over labels, though. If the “gift” is really compensation for legal services, it is taxable income no matter what the client calls it. Payments to attorneys of $600 or more in a year must be reported on Form 1099-MISC. A client who hands their lawyer a $5,000 check and calls it a gift, but who also received $5,000 worth of legal work, has not actually made a gift. Recharacterizing fees as gifts creates tax problems on top of ethical ones.