Opinion 1988

A county prosecutor’s office employs a legal secretary who recently began to conduct a Bible study in the county jail during non-work hours. The Bible study takes place without any supervision. The secretary has control and selection of content and who among the female jail detainees is allowed to attend. The prosecuting attorney’s office understands that some of the women detainees discuss the circumstances and conduct that led to them being in jail. The detainees have attorneys, either retained or appointed.

The inquirer asks if the prosecuting attorney and/or the legal secretary’s supervising attorney is in violation of RPC 4.2, 5.3, and/or other rules by knowingly permitting a legal secretary to have contact with persons represented by legal counsel in a criminal matter?

The Rules of Professional Conduct Committee is of the opinion that RPCs 4.2, 5.3, 1.7, and 3.8 are all potentially violated by the unsupervised Bible study class run by a non-lawyer employee of the prosecuting attorney’s office in a jail with represented jail detainees unless notice is given to the defense counsel and consent is given for the detainees’ participation following that notice and after an opportunity for advice from the assigned or retained defense counsel.

It is also noted that the Rules of Professional Conduct Committee does not address matters of substantive law.

Advisory Opinions are provided for the education of the Bar and reflect the opinion of the Committee on Professional Ethics (CPE) or its predecessors. Advisory Opinions are provided pursuant to the authorization granted by the Board of Governors, but are not individually approved by the Board and do not reflect the official position of the Bar association. Laws other than the Washington State Rules of Professional Conduct may apply to the inquiry. The Committee's answer does not include or opine about any other applicable law other than the meaning of the Rules of Professional Conduct.