99-2.
Case Date | January 15, 1999 |
Court | Alaska |
Alaska Ethics Opinion
1999.
99-2.
Ethics Opinion No. 99-2 May A Municipal Attorney Represent A
Quasi-Judicial Municipal Board That Is Hearing A Disputed Matter In Which The
Municipality Is A Party To The Dispute?The Committee has been asked if a municipal attorney may
represent a quasi-judicial municipal board hearing a disputed matter in which
the municipality is a party to the dispute. The Committee concludes that the
lawyer may do so, but only in accordance with Alaska Rule of Professional
Conduct 1.7.
In the facts presented, the municipality employs a very small
staff of attorneys. The attorneys provide general legal advice to municipal
agencies and represent the municipality in disputed matters. On occasion, the
municipality is a party in a disputed hearing heard by a quasi-judicial boards
comprised of citizen volunteers. One municipal attorney sits at counsel table
and advocates for the municipality's position (the "advocate"). Another
municipal attorney sits with the board and provides it with procedural advice.
(the "neutral"). The attorneys do not discuss the matter with each other
outside the hearing room, intending to be separated by what is colloquially
known as an "ethical screen."
This phrase refers to an imaginary barrier between lawyers in the
same office preventing communication about the matter. E.g.,
Stevens, "Can the State Attorney General Represent Two Agencies Opposed in
Litigation," 2 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 757, 797 (1989). Ethical
screens, or "Chinese Walls," are meant to protect against conflicts of interest
much as "the Great Wall served ancient Chinese emperors, an elaborate and
extraordinary, yet effective and impregnable, barrier against transgression."
C. Wolfram, Modern Legal Ethics, sec. 7.6.4, at 401 n. 65.
(endnote 1)
As an initial matter, the Committee notes that lawyers
representing government entities are subject to the Rules of Professional
Conduct in the course of representing their client. ABA Formal Opinion 97-405.
(endnote 2) Among these are the rules relating to conflicts of interest.
Id., at 4 ("it seems clear that the general conflict of
interest provisions of the Model Rules serve to protect the interests of a
government client just as they protect the lawyer's private clients"). Alaska
Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7 provides:
(a) A lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation
of that client will be directly adverse to another...
To continue reading
Request your trial