Court Opinion

ID: 9462199
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:34:17.575197+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:27.175069
License: Public Domain

GURFEIN, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the remand with two caveats.
First, I think a court need not treat the Canons of Professional Responsibility as it would a statute that we have no right to amend. We should not abdicate *1360our constitutional function of regulating the Bar to that extent. When we agree that the Code applies in an equitable manner to a matter before us, we should not hesitate to enforce it with vigor. When we find an area of uncertainty, however, we must use our judicial process to make our own decision in the interests of justice to all concerned.
Second, the interests of justice in this case involve not only the ethics of the lawyer but also the rights of his client, the Foleys. Up to now this court has been largely concerned with breaches of professional ethics caused by alleged former representations by lawyers, applying Canon 4 or Disciplinary Rule 9-101(B), though we have also painted with a broad brush using the color of Canon 9.1 See Ernie Industries, Inc. v. Patentex, Inc., 478 F.2d 562 (2d Cir. 1973); Silver Chrysler Plymouth, Inc. v. Chrysler Motors Corporation, 496 F.2d 800 (2d Cir. 1974); General Motors Corp. v. City of New York, 501 F.2d 639 (2d Cir. 1974). And compare Hull v. Celanese Corp., 513 F.2d 568 (2d Cir. 1975).
In Ceramco, Inc. v. Lee Pharmaceuticals, 510 F.2d 268, 271 (2d Cir. 1975), we noted that these cases were based on “the need to enforce the lawyer’s duty of absolute fidelity and to guard against the danger of inadvertent use of confidential information.”
Having made my own reservations explicit, I would also direct the District Court to give the Foleys, after affording them full information about the problem, a chance to express their own preference. That expression will, of course, not be binding on the court, but if courts are to take action that may adversely affect the client, the client should have a chance to express himself. After all, in cases that do not involve past representation, the attempt by an opposing party to disqualify the other side’s lawyer must be viewed as a part of the tactics of an adversary proceeding. As such it demands judicial scrutiny to prevent literalism from possibly overcoming substantial justice to the parties. I express no views on the ultimate decision to be rendered by the District Court.

. Canon 4 of the Code of Professional Responsibility provides that “A lawyer should preserve the confidences and secrets of a client.” Canon 9 of the Code of Professional Responsibility provides that “A lawyer should avoid even the appearance of professional impropriety.” Disciplinary Rule 9-101(B) provides that “A lawyer shall not accept private employment in a matter in which he had substantial responsibility while he was a public employee.”