Ethics Opinions
Iowa Supreme Court Board of Professional Ethics and Conduct
Date of Opinion:
12/09/2003
Opinion Number:
04-04
Title:
CONFLICT: LAW FIRM REPRESENTING COUNTY IN CIVIL MATTERS WHILE REPRESENTING CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS
Opinion:
Your firm represents the county board of supervisors in labor negotiations with the county’s bargaining units. Stating that in your labor negotiations you have no contact with the county attorney’s office, you ask whether a conflict of interest exists which precludes your firm’s simultaneous representation of defendants in criminal cases in that county.
In Formal Opinions 99-6 and 90-37, the Board was asked whether a member of the county board of supervisors could accept court appointments for criminal cases in the same county. It was the opinion of the Board that “the relationship between a member of the board of supervisors, the court and the county attorney is not one which per se creates conflict and that, in the absence of perceivable conflict, such representation would not be improper.” The same conclusion applies to you.
In any situation where conflict actually occurs, of course, you would be required not to accept the representation or to withdraw from representation.
This opinion applies only to the facts involved in this request for opinion. Each question of conflict must be determined upon its own merits.