Court Opinion

ID: 9714178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:32:28.384115+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:24.069315
License: Public Domain

PELLEGRINI, Judge,
concurring.
I join with the majority that attorneys are not subject to the Ethics Act’s one-year prohibition from representing clients after they leave employment with that agency because such a prohibition interferes with our Supreme Court’s sole jurisdiction to regulate the conduct of lawyers when acting as lawyers when there is no existing employment relationship with any governmental agency1 but write separately to add that our Supreme Court has promulgated in Rule 1.11 of the Rules of Professional Conduct2 detailed standards *1108that an attorney must follow when appearing before their former agency that controls conduct attorneys may engage in even beyond the one-year prohibition contained in Section 1103(g)3 of the Ethics Act. 65 Pa.C.S. § 1103(g).

. At oral argument, counsel for the Ethics Commission stated that it desired us to reach the merits as long as Shaulis’ Petition for Review was considered in the nature of a Declaratory Judgement action.

. Rule 1.11 entitled "Successive Government and Private Employment” provides:
(a) Except as law may otherwise expressly permit, a lawyer shall not represent a private client in connection with a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially as a public officer or employee, unless the appropriate government agency consents after consultation. No lawyer in a firm with which that lawyer is associated may knowingly undertake or continue representation in such a matter unless:
(1) the disqualified lawyer is screened from any participation in the matter and is apportioned no part of the fee therefrom; and
(2) written notice is promptly given to the appropriate government agency to enable it to ascertain compliance with the provisions of this rule.
(b) Except as law may otherwise expressly permit, a lawyer having information that the lawyer knows is confidential government information about a person acquired when the lawyer was a public officer or employee, may not represent a private client whose interests are adverse to that person in a matter in which the information could be used to the material disadvantage of that person. A firm with which that lawyer is associated may undertake or continue representation in the matter only if the disqualified lawyer is screened from any participation in the matter and is apportioned no part of the fee therefrom.
(c) Except as law may otherwise expressly permit, a lawyer serving as a public officer or employee shall not:
(1) participate in a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially while in private practice or non-governmental employment, unless under applicable law no one is, or by lawful delegation may be, authorized to act in the lawyer's stead in the matter; or
(2) negotiate for private employment with any person who is involved as a party or as attorney for a parly in a matter in which the lawyer is participating personally and substantially.
(d) As used in this Rule, the term "matter” includes:
(1) any judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, investigation, charge, accusation, arrest or other particular matter involving a specific party or parties; and
(2) any other matter covered by the conflict of interest rules of the appropriate government agency.
(e) As used in this Rule, the term “confidential government information” means information which has been obtained under governmental authority and which, at the time this Rule is applied, the government is *1108prohibited by law from disclosing to the public or has a legal privilege not to disclose, and which is not otherwise available to the public.

. 42 Pa.C.S. 1103(g) of the Ethics Act provides:
No former public official or public employee shall represent a person, with promised or actual compensation, on any matter before the governmental body with which he has been associated for one year after he leaves that body.