84-11.

• Case Date: November 09, 1984
• Court: Alaska

Alaska Ethics Opinion 1984. 84-11. Ethics Opinion No. 84-11Communication by Attorney with Government Employee Regarding Subject Matter of Litigation Without Consent of the Government's Attorney.The Ethics Committee has been asked whether Alaska Bar Association Ethics Opinion No. 71-1, relating to communications with employees of parties, prohibits an attorney from communicating with a governmental employee in the following circumstances. The attorney, representing a public interest organization, has commenced suit against the Legislative Affairs Agency and three of its employees alleging that denial of access to the Legislative Teleconference Network violates various constitutional rights of the plaintiff. Plaintiff's counsel wishes to interview the Juneau Teleconference Manager, who is not a defendant in the lawsuit, without the consent of counsel for the defendants. The relevant provision of the Code of Professional Responsibility is DR 79-104(A)(1) which provides as follows: During the course of his representation of a client, a lawyer shall not: Communicate or cause another to communicate on the subject of the representation with a party he knows to be represented by a lawyer in that matter unless he has the prior consent of the lawyer representing such other party or is authorized by law to do so. Ethics Opinion 71-1, which was based upon Canon No. 9 and interpretations of DR 7-104 (A)(1), which had not yet been adopted by the Alaska Bar, interpreted the scope of those rules as follows: [A] lawyer is ethically permitted to communicate with employees of a governmental entity concerning a matter in controversy between the party represented by the lawyer and the governmental entity, so long as that communication is not made with employees of the entity who may reasonably be thought of as representing the entity in matters related to the matter in controversy, and assuming that full disclosure of the lawyer's representation and the connection of that representation and the connection of that representation to the communication is made. [Emphasis added.] The prohibition relating to communications by an attorney with a party represented by counsel have been adopted in substantially the same form in Rule 4.2 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the American Bar Association in 1983. The comment to Rule 4.2 supports...