99-2.

Case DateJanuary 15, 1999
CourtAlaska
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...

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