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Solicitation By Defense Counsel: Ethical Pitfalls When Corporate Defense Counsel Offers Representation To Witnesses, Barry R. Temkin, Michael H. Stone

Barry R. Temkin

The ban on solicitation by attorneys in ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 7.3, and its state counterparts, has generally been used to prevent ambulance chasing by plaintiffs’ attorneys. However, a recent New York decision has raised the possibility that a defense lawyer could be disciplined for solicitation when offering his services to a non-party witness employed by a corporate defendant, even when doing so for no additional fee. The court in Rivera v. Lutheran Medical Center, referred a prominent national law firm to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee and disqualified the firm from representing several current and former employees of …