072314 RIEO, 14-06

• Case Date: July 23, 2014
• Court: Rhode Island

14-06 Ethics Advisory Panel Op. 2014-06 Rhode Island Ethics Opinions Rhode Island Supreme Court July 23, 2014          FACTS          The inquiring attorney is employed on a part-time basis as a solicitor for City A. He/she is paid hourly. As a part-time solicitor, the inquiring attorney prosecutes one day a week misdemeanor criminal offenses that are charged by the city's police department. The inquiring attorney also has a private law practice which consists primarily of criminal defense work throughout the various courts in the State. The inquiring attorney seeks the Panel's advice about whether it is a conflict of interest to represent in his/her private practice an individual who is charged by the police department of City B. The misdemeanor cases of City A and of City B are heard before the same division of the district court.          ISSUE PRESENTED          Is it a conflict of interest for the inquiring attorney, who is a part-time prosecuting attorney for City A, to represent an individual who is charged with a misdemeanor by City B, where both cases will be heard in the same division of the district court?          OPINION          Rule 1.7 of the Rules of Professional Conduct does not per se prohibit the inquiring attorney, who serves as a part-time prosecutor for City A from representing a criminal defendant who is charged by City B where both matters are heard in the same division of the district court. The inquiring attorney must determine in each case on the basis of its particular facts, whether the representations are directly adverse, or whether there is a significant risk that the representations will be materially limited.          REASONING          Rule 1.7 of the Rules of Professional Conduct is pertinent to this inquiry. The Rules states as follows:

Rule 1.7. Conflict of interest: Current clients, (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest. A concurrent conflict of interest exists if:

(1) the representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client; or

(2) there is a significant risk that the representation of one or more clients will be materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to another client, a former client or a third person or by a personal interest of the lawyer.

(b) Notwithstanding the existence of a concurrent conflict of interest under paragraph (a), a lawyer may

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