080219 OHEO, ETH 2019-5

Case DateAugust 02, 2019
CourtOhio
ETH 2019-5
Opinion No. 2019-5
Ohio Ethics Opinion
Ohio Board of Professional Conduct
August 2, 2019
          Richard A. Dove Director           D. Allan Asbury Senior Counsel           Kristi R. McAnaul Counsel           Patricia A. Wise Vice- Chair          Conflicts of Part-Time Law Director and Imputation to Part-Time Law Director’s Firm          SYLLABUS: When a part-time law director also engages in the private practice of law, the law director may not represent private clients in matters related to his or her employing municipality. Associated lawyers in a part-time law director’s law firm are permitted to represent clients in matters related to the part-time law director’s employing municipality. The conflicts of a part-time law director are not imputed to the other members of a law director’s private law firm.          QUESTION PRESENTED: May a lawyer associated in a law firm with an elected, part-time law director represent a client in matters before the law director’s municipality or one of the employees, officers, commissions, or boards of the municipality?          APPLICABLE RULES: Prof. Cond.R. 1.7, 1.10, 1.11           OPINION           HON. JOHN W. WISE CHAIR          The Board must first consider the law director’s conflicts of interest prior to addressing the imputation question posed. A law director of a municipal corporation provides legal advice and representation to the municipality, its officers, and its entities. The specific legal duties of a city law director are established by law. E.g., R.C. 705.11, 733.51, 733.52, 733.53, 733.54, 733.56 733.57, 733.58, 733.62, 1901.34 and 3313.35.[1] Some law directors are statutorily tasked with the duty to prosecute criminal violations of state law, while other law directors are not required to prosecute criminal violations of state law because county prosecutors in those counties are tasked with the responsibility.[2]          A law director is not prohibited from engaging in the private practice of law in Ohio, and many lawyers employed as part-time law directors continue to maintain a private practice at law firms. A part-time law director or other lawyers associated in a law firm with a part-time law director are often approached to represent clients in matters coming before various divisions of a municipality, such as an application pending before or requiring approval by the city engineer, planning commission, or city council. The Board previously addressed in Adv. Op. 2008-06 whether a law director and lawyers associated in a law firm with a law director may represent criminal defendants, but has not specifically addressed the related concept of representation of clients in a civil context.          Part-Time Law Director’s Ability to Represent Civil Clients in Matters Related to the Municipality          A lawyer’s representation of a client creates a conflict of interest if the representation of that client will be directly adverse to another current client or if there is a substantial risk that the lawyer’s ability to consider, recommend, or carry out an appropriate course of action for that client will be materially limited by the lawyer’s responsibilities to another client, a former client, a third person, or by the lawyer’s own personal interest. Prof.Cond.R. 1.7(a)(1)-(2). Furthermore, public officers owe an undivided...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT