Ethics Hotline & Opinions

ETHICS DOCKET NO. 1988-89

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MARYLAND STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, INC.

COMMITTEE ON ETHICS

ETHICS DOCKET NO. 1988-89

Conflict: Attorney For Engineering Firm Giving Legal Advice to Firm's Clients

ou explain that at present you are an enforcement attorney with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. You are seriously thinking of ceasing employment with the government and begin working for an engineering consulting firm. Your major role with the engineering firm would be to direct internal audits of clients' environmental compliance and environmental management systems. You wish to know if you may give legal advice to the engineering firm's clients and thereby assert the attorney-client privilege as to any confidential communications.

Although not addressed in your question, we would first refer you to Rule 1.11 of the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct which deals with successive government and private employment. There are a number of described situations in the Rule which would pertain to your proposed leaving the government service and entering private employment with the engineering firm.

It is the judgment of the Committee that Rule 1.13 precludes your giving legal advice to the clients of the engineering firm. The afore-referenced Rule deals with an attorney being employed or retained by an organization an specifies that the lawyer represents the organization acting through its dulu authorized constituents. Rule 1.13 (e) provides that an attorney representing an organization may also represent its directors, officers, employees, members, shareholders, or other constituents subject to the provisions of Rule 1.7 (conflict of interest). Since the attorney only represents the organization and corporate constituents, it would be a violation of this Rule for you to represent the engineering firm's clients. We are of this opinion since the firm's clients would not qualify as corporate constituents.

We also refer you to Rule 5.4 (d) which prohibits an attorney from engaging in law practice with a non-lawyer who owns an interest in the practice. Under your proposed arrangement, the engineering firm in effect would own a law practice which is prohibited by this Rule.


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