Law Commons^™

Conflicts Of Interest In Legal Representation: Should The Appearance Of Impropriety Rule Be Eliminated In New Jersey - Or Revived Everywhere Else , Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Sixty-five years ago, an American Bar Association (ABA) committee interpreting the Canons of Professional Ethics (Canons) concluded that it would be professionally improper for a part-time prosecutor to agree to defend an individual in a civil action while simultaneously prosecuting him on felony charges. The committee acknowledged that the representation of conflicting interests is ordinarily proper with the respective clients' consent. But it said that client consent does not suffice in a case involving a public officer, who has a duty "to be and remain above all suspicion, even at personal financial sacrifice." It concluded that such "[a]n attorney should …