Advisory Opinion:
1925
Year Issued:
2000
RPC(s):
RPC 1.6(a); 1.7; 1.8(f); 5.4(c)
Subject:
In-house counsel for company provides administrative services for a public entity insuring pools for schools, cities and counties wishes to also provide legal services.
[Editor's Note: Ethics inquiry #1925 concerns in-house counsel for company that provides administrative services for a public entity insuring pools for schools, cities and counties wishes to also provide legal services.]
The Committee has reviewed your inquiry and determined the following:
The inquiring lawyer works as litigation counsel in the legal department of a company that provides administrative services, including legal services, to public entity insurance pools. The inquirer states that he is assigned to defend claims against pool members and that he provides legal advice to members on issues that may arise. On occasion, he provides legal advice to corporate pool administrator about claims and insurance coverage matters. The committee opined as follows:
The fact that you are compensated for defending insurance pool members by a third party " a corporate pool administrator " does not preclude you from defending pool members against claims. However, compensation by a third party for representing a client triggers several ethical obligations. These are identified in RPC 1.8(f) and 5,4(c). first, as a condition of providing such representation, you must advise pool members that you are assigned to defend, that you will be paid by the corporate pool administrator, and obtain the pool member’s consent. Second, you must ensure that there is no interference with your professional judgment or the attorney-client relationship by reason of the third party compensation and you should explain this obligation to the client. Third, you must protect the secrets and confidences of the pool members, in the manner specified in RPC 1.6(a). In this respect, formal Opinion 195 (1999) may be interest to you.
Because you also provide legal services to corporate pool administrators on issues relating to claims and answer questions from pool members that may arise in the course of defense, the possibility of conflicts of interest arises. In this respect you stated that you do not provide coverage advice to pool administrators with respect to claims that have been assigned to you for defense. You also should remain alert for other potential conflicts of interest so that they may be addressed as provided in RPC 1.7(a) and (b) and RPC 1.9.
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