Will ABA Ease Recommended Conflicts Rule for Lateral Lawyers?
As it has become increasingly common for attorneys to move from law firm to law firm during their professional careers, a growing number of lawyers have urged that a legal ethics rule that restricts such movement be eased. Soon, the American Bar Association will be discussing two alternative proposed revisions that provide differing degrees of leeway for lawyers whose former clients are adverse to an ongoing representation at the new firm.
Under a proposed amendment to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct that will be considered at the ABA Midyear Meeting later this month, .oving from one law firm to another would be much like moving from a government legal job to private practice. The amendment, known as Recommendation 109, it would allow a law firm to screen a new lateral attorney from other members of the firm, thus permitting the law firm to continue representing a conflicting client without obtaining permission from the new attorney’s former client, reports the National Law Journal.
Under the current Model Rules, former client permission is required in such a situation.
But under a competing proposed amendment, the path for lateral attorney movement from law firm to law firm would be only somewhat smoothed.
Recommendation 110 “would allow a lawyer, whose participation with a client at a previous firm was not significant and who did not learn material confidential information, to work for an adversary law firm without client consent, so long as the transferring lawyer was screened and provided certification of compliance with screening,” the legal publication explains.
The Model Rules aren’t binding on lawyers in and of themselves, but many states use them as a blueprint for adopting their own mandatory legal ethics standards.
The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility is sponsoring Recommendation 109, and the ABA Section of Litigation is sponsoring Recommendation 110.
Earlier coverage:
ABA Journal: “Screening Door Held Ajar”
