Ethics Committee Formal Opinion #1993-94/17
Conflict of Interest/Attorney serving as Mediator in District Court ADR Program/Firm Member Serving as District Court Special Justice
November 17, 1994
ANNOTATION:
An attorney may appear as an advocate in the same district court where the attorney is a volunteer mediator in an alternative dispute resolution program, only if the attorney has not provided mediation services in the matter.
An attorney may serve as a mediator in an alternative dispute resolution program in the same court where a member of the attorney’s firm serves as a special justice.
Statutory law prohibits an attorney from practicing in the same district court where a member of the attorney’s firm serves as a special justice. An attorney, however, may appear in other district courts where the member of the firm who is a special justice does not sit.
QUESTIONS:
- Is it proper for the attorney to provide voluntary alternative dispute resolution services to a court on a regular basis and at other times appear before the same court as an advocate in various matters which were not subject to ADR?
- Where one member of a firm is a special justice for a district court, to what extent, if any, is another member of the firm precluded from serving that district court as a volunteer mediator?
- Where one member of a firm is a special justice for a district court, to what extent, if any, is another member of the firm precluded from appearing before that district court as an advocate?
- Where one member of a firm is a special justice for a district court, to what extent, if any, are members of the firm (including the special justice) precluded from appearing in other district courts within the state as an advocate?