Labor & Employment Law

Conflict of interest for agency attorneys?

Conflict of interest for agency attorneys?

Source: Administrative Law Professor Blog. Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2008, All rights reserved http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adminlaw/

An article on Law.com, "State of California Appears Favored in Attorney Conflict Case", describes a case before the Supreme Court of California arguing that an attorney who advises an agency decision-maker on unrelated matters should not be allowed to represent the agency in enforcement actions before that decision-maker. The author says that the Court's questions at oral argument suggest that it is leaning towards the State's position that such attorney-agency relationships are not a problem as a practical matter and that requiring separation between advising and enforcement attorneys would cause bad problems for small agencies.

The closest analogy I can think of would be a judge's law clerk arguing cases before her judge. Would this imply bias sufficient to violate due process as a matter of law? It could be an interesting discussion.

EMM

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on January 14, 2009 (boomark / email).