Source: https://lalegalethics.org/louisiana-rules-of-professional-conduct/article-3-advocate/rule-3-7-lawyer-as-witness/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 10:03:22+00:00

Document:
The Louisiana Supreme Court adopted this rule on January 20, 2004. It became effective on March 1, 2004, and has not been amended since. This rule is identical to ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 3.7 (2002).
Paragraph (a) prohibits a lawyer from acting as an advocate at trial when the lawyer is likely to be a “necessary witness.” La. Rules of Prof’l Conduct R. 3.7(a) (2004). Courts typically consider a lawyer to be a “necessary” witness if the lawyer’s testimony is “relevant, material, and unobtainable elsewhere.” See ABA Annotated Model Rules of Professional Conduct 384-85 (5th ed. 2003); see also Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers § 108 cmt. (2000) (stating that a tribunal should not permit party to call opposing trial lawyer as witness when testimony would be “merely cumulative of evidence readily available by less intrusive means”). Note that the Restatement does not use “necessity” as the touchstone for disqualification. Rather, the Restatement would call for an advocate-lawyer’s disqualification if the lawyer’s testimony was “material to establishing a claim or defense of the client,” and the client has not consented to the lawyer’s failure to testify. Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers § 108(1)(b) (2000).
The rule set forth in paragraph (a) is a rule of professional conduct–not a rule of witness competence. Therefore, it does not bear on whether a lawyer-advocate is competent to serve as a trial witness, but rather, on whether a trial witness is permitted to serve as an advocate. As the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals has held, “[t]here is nothing in the Rules of Professional Conduct or the Louisiana Code of Evidence providing that an attorney is not a competent witness in a trial in which he represents a party to the litigation.” See Jordan v. Intercontinental Bulktank Corp., 621 So. 2d 1141, 1148-49 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1993).
Finally, paragraph (a) only prohibits a lawyer from acting as an advocate at trial. The advocate-lawyer still may handle pretrial matters without being disqualified. See ABA Annotated Model Rules of Professional Conduct 387-88 (5th ed. 2003); Amec Construction Mgmt., Inc. v. FFIC Risk Management, 2017 WL 3602053, No. 13-718-JJB-EWD, *1 at *6 (M.D. La. Aug. 21, 2018) (finding that a lawyer who is likely to be a witness may continue represent client at pretrial stage); see also State v. Marinello, 49 So. 3d 488, 506-07 (La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 2010) (describing lawyer’s involvement in criminal grand jury proceedings as a pretrial matter); In re Phenylpropanolamine Products Liability Litigation, Fuller v. Whitehall-Robbins Healthcare, No. MDL 1407, 2006 WL 2473484 (W.D. Wash. Aug. 28, 2006) (holding that Rule 3.7 “relates to testimony at trial, not at the summary judgment stage”); see also, LSBA Public Opinion 05-RPCC-007 (2005). (“[T]he lawyer-witness is not barred from representing the client prior to trial, but he may do so only with the client’s informed consent and only so long as it appears his testimony would not be prejudicial to his client.”) (citing ABA Informal Ethics Opinion 89-1529 (1989)). Under these circumstances, the lawyer’s dual role presents no risk of confusion and prejudice at trial. See ABA Model Rules of Prof’l Conduct r. 3.7 cmt. 2 (2004). But see Adcock v. Ewing, 57 So. 3d 434, 441 (La. Ct. App. 2d Cir. 2011) (holding that Rule 3.7 is applicable to summary judgment proceedings) (citing Franklin Credit Mgmt. Corp. v. Gray, 2 So. 3d 598 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2009)).
Paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(3) set forth three exceptions to the general rule that a lawyer may not serve as both advocate and witness. First, a lawyer may testify on an uncontested issue. La. Rules of Prof’l Conduct r. 3.7(a)(1) (2004). Second, a lawyer may testify about the nature and value of the legal services that the lawyer has provided, for example, when a claimant seeks an award of attorneys’ fees. Id. r. 3.7(a)(2); see also Adcock, 57 So. 3d at 440-41 (holding that a lawyer’s affidavit submitted for summary judgment describing a clerical error in regards to the filing of a court document related to the “nature of … legal services”) (quoting Rule 3.7(a)(2)). Third, a lawyer may testify if disqualification would work substantial hardship on the lawyer’s client. La. Rules of Prof’l Conduct R. 3.7(a)(3); see, e.g., Nicholas v. Nicholas, 923 So. 2d 690, 695 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 2005) (holding that it would have caused substantial hardship on a client to prevent lawyer from testifying on her behalf when she fell ill on the date of the hearing); Pure Air Daigle, LLC v. Stagg, 2017 WL 2986607, No. 6:16-cv-01322, *1 (W.D. La. Jul. 12, 2018) (finding that disqualification would cause a substantial hardship upon the defendant); Whitney Bank v. SMI Companies Global, Inc., 2018 WL 3978581, No. 6:16-cv-01427, *1 (W.D. La. Aug. 20, 2018) (refusing to disqualify lawyer because it would cause an undue burden on the lawyer’s client.) Louisiana courts note 3.7(a)(3) exceptions are rare and occur only in “extraordinary circumstances.” See Franklin Credit Mgmt. Corp. v. Gray, 2 So. 3d 598, 605 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2009) (citing Nicholas as an “extraordinary circumstance”). The factors that courts have considered in evaluating whether disqualification would cause hardship on the client include, but are not limited to, the following: the time and money invested by the client in the lawyer; the timing of the filing of the motion to disqualify; and whether the necessity of calling the lawyer as a witness was foreseeable. See ABA Annotated Model Rules of Professional Conduct at 388-89 (5th ed. 2003). The trial judge is vested with much discretion regarding the application of this hardship exception. See Exnicios v. Saunders, 448 So. 2d 751, 752 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 1984).
Because the problems arising from a lawyer serving as advocate and witness can prejudice not only the “opposing party,” see ABA Model Rules of Prof’l Conduct R. 3.7 cmt. 1, but also the system of justice by causing jury confusion, the mandate of this rule is generally not waivable by the client. See, e.g., Freeman v. Vicchiarelli, 827 F. Supp. 300 (D.N.J. 1993). Note, however, that the Restatement would permit an advocate-lawyer to testify with the consent of both the lawyer’s client and the “opposing parties who would be adversely affected by the lawyer’s testimony.” Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers § 108(2)(c) (2000).
Paragraph (b) provides that a lawyer may act as an advocate in a trial even though a partner or associate from the lawyer’s firm is likely to be called as a witness. La. Rules of Prof’l Conduct r. 3.7(b) (2004). Because the disqualification imposed by this rule is not imputed to a lawyers’ firm, a litigator at a firm, for example, may freely call as a trial witness the transactional partner who drafted a contract that is the subject of litigation. However, if the advocate-lawyer’s partner will testify in a manner adverse to the client, this may give rise to a conflict of interest under Rules 1.7 and 1.9. For example, a potentially disqualifying Rule 1.7 conflict would exist if the advocate-lawyer’s representation of the client was materially limited by friendship with the witness-lawyer. See La. Rules of Prof’l Conduct r. 1.7(b) (2004).
This rule is typically invoked in the context of motions to disqualify lawyers rather than in the context of disciplinary proceedings. However, a lawyer who violates this rule certainly is subject to discipline. For the disciplinary sanctions that are appropriate for lawyers’ failure to avoid conflicts of interest, see supra Annotations to Louisiana Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7.

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