Opinion ID: 836247
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: first cause of complaint: current client conflict of interest

Text: The Bar contends that, even if the accused agreed only to provide a second opinion about whether the defendants should plead no contest, he had a lawyer-client relationship with them, their interests were in likely conflict, and the accused was required, but failed, to comply with the requirements of DR 5-105(E). That rule provides: Current Client ConflictsProhibition. Except as provided in DR 5-105(F), a lawyer shall not represent multiple current clients in any matters when such representation would result in an actual or likely conflict. An actual conflict of interest exists when the lawyer has a duty to contend for something on behalf of one client that the lawyer has a duty to oppose on behalf of another client. DR 5-105(A)(1). A likely conflict of interest exists in all other situations in which the objective personal, business or property interests of the clients are adverse. DR 5-105(A)(2). DR 5-105(F) permits representation of multiple current clients when such representation would not result in an actual conflict and when each client consents to the multiple representation after full disclosure. Only likely conflicts may be waived after full disclosure; actual conflicts are not waivable. Full disclosure requires the lawyer to explain to the client the potential adverse impact of the multiple representation, advise the client to seek independent legal advice about whether consent should be given, and contemporaneously to confirm the disclosure in writing. DR 10-101(B). The threshold question is whether the accused had a lawyer-client relationship with the defendants. The trial panel found that he did. A lawyer-client relationship may be inferred from the circumstances and the conduct of the parties. In re Wittemyer, 328 Or. 448, 456, 980 P.2d 148 (1999). A lawyer-client relationship may be found based on the putative client's objectively reasonable belief that a relationship has been established. Id. However, the putative client's subjective belief must be accompanied by evidence that the lawyer understood or should have understood that the relationship existed. Id. In this case, the defendants had an objectively reasonable belief that the accused had been retained to provide themnot just Yother seniorwith legal advice, and the accused understood that the relationship existed. The accused met with the defendants three times; Yother senior was present only at the first meeting. According to the accused, he conducted research on the defendants' behalf, and he gave them advice about whether they should plead no contest. [2] Yother junior and Szlavich paid the accused at least $150 of the $750 he received for his legal advice. We conclude that the accused had a lawyer-client relationship with the defendants. We turn to whether the accused violated the rules against current client conflicts when he undertook to provide the defendants with advice about whether they should plead no contest. This court has explained that a lawyer who is asked to represent multiple clients who have potentially differing interests must weigh carefully the possibility of impaired judgment or divided loyalty and that employment should be refused if there is the slightest doubt about whether the employment will involve a conflict of interest. See In re O'Neal, 297 Or. 258, 264, 683 P.2d 1352 (1984) (so stating and citing authorities). A conflict exists when a lawyer is in a position where the exercise of the lawyer's independent professional judgment on behalf of one client would be adversely affected by the differing interests of the other clients. In re Porter, 283 Or. 517, 524, 584 P.2d 744 (1978). When a conflict exists, the fact that representation may not include going to trial does not solve the problems inherent in such conflicts. O'Neal, 297 Or. at 263, 683 P.2d 1352. In this case, the defendants had been charged in a single indictment with first-degree burglary and third-degree assault for unlawfully entering a dwelling and injuring Szlavich's former husband and his girlfriend. Their court-appointed lawyers had advised each of them to plead no contest to reduced charges. Yother senior and the defendants retained the accused to give them a second opinion about whether the court-appointed lawyers were giving the defendants good legal advice. The accused testified that, in his view, each of the defendants had a different defense and he told both Yother senior and the defendants that their defense positions were substantially different. Among other things, the accused reasoned that, as to Yother junior and Laura Yother, there was a serious question about their legal right to try to retrieve Szlavich's child from the child's father. As to Szlavich, by contrast, the accused believed that she might have been entitled legally to exert force in the effort to retrieve her child. The accused also testified that he understood that the availability of different defenses for each of the defendants created a likely current client conflict of interest, and he advised them orally of the specific nature of the conflicts that could arise based on their assertion of those defenses. However, the accused did not advise the defendants of the conflict in writing, and he did not advise them to seek independent counsel to determine whether they should consent to his representing them for the purpose of giving a second opinion about whether they should plead no contest. The accused reasoned that he did not need to advise the defendants to seek independent counsel because [t]hey already had counsel, so that wasn't necessary. On this record, we conclude that the accused had a likely current client conflict of interest when he agreed to provide the defendants a second opinion about whether they should plead no contest to reduced charges. As the custodial parent of her child, Szlavich might have had defenses available to her that were not available to Yother junior or to Laura Yother. Moreover, one or all of the defendants could have argued that it was either or both of the others, not him or her, who injured the victims. See In re Jeffery, 321 Or. 360, 370-71, 898 P.2d 752 (1995) (likely conflict of interest where accused represented codefendants in criminal matter, clients had potential interest in convincing trier of fact that one defendant was less culpable than the other, and each client had potential interest in obtaining favorable plea agreement in exchange for testimony against other). Whether it was advisable for any or all the defendants to plead no contest to reduced charges depended on their respective defense strategies, and the possibility existed that the defendants' interests were adverse to one another regarding those strategies. The accused had a likely current client conflict of interest that he was required to disclose fully under DR 5-105(E). The accused's contention that he was excused from fully disclosing the likely conflict of interest among the defendants because the defendants already were represented by appointed counsel is not well taken. The defendants' counsel were appointed to represent them on the criminal charges, not to advise them whether they should consent to the accused's continued representation in light of the likely conflict. The accused was not excused from providing the full disclosure required by DR 10-101(B). We hold that the accused violated DR 5-105(E).