伦理意见227

移民澳门赌场官网助理和澳门赌场官网/归咎取消资格/筛选

If a paralegal moves from Law Firm A to Law Firm B, 和 that paralegal is personally disqualified from a matter pending in Law Firm B because the paralegal worked on a substantially related matter at Law Firm A, 澳门赌场官网事务所B通常可以通过“筛选”澳门赌场官网助理来避免被推定为丧失资格. 然而, it is not permissible for Law Firm B purportedly to "screen" the paralegal from only that portion of the matter that is related to the paralegal's previous work at Law Firm A, 和 assign the paralegal to work on other, assertedly unrelated aspects of that same matter. Absent informed consent from Law Firm A's client, 澳门赌场官网助理必须在B澳门赌场官网事务所与整个事件有效隔离, otherwise Law Firm B risks being disqualified from that matter. 在一般情况下, 在移民澳门赌场官网的案例中(区别于非澳门赌场官网), screening plus consent of the former client is required.

适用的规则

• 规则1.9 (Conflict of Interest: Former Client)
• 规则1.10 (Imputed Disqualification: General Rule)
• 规则5.3 (Responsibilities Regarding Non-Lawyer Assistants)

调查

一位澳门赌场官网助理在A澳门赌场官网事务所工作了两年，最近受雇于B澳门赌场官网事务所(询问者). B澳门赌场官网事务所代理妻子对丈夫的离婚诉讼. Husb和 is the principal owner of the ABC Company. 在A澳门赌场官网事务所工作期间，该澳门赌场官网助理负责ABC公司的养老金和利润分享计划(以下简称“计划”). 她可以查阅计划的条款，并至少有一次协助编制计划的概要计划说明. 询问者表示，该澳门赌场官网助理“不记得”曾访问过该计划的基础财务和会计数据, A澳门赌场官网事务所没有为ABC公司或丈夫做过其他法律工作, 澳门赌场官网助理在A澳门赌场官网事务所工作期间从未见过丈夫. A澳门赌场官网事务所没有参与妻子起诉丈夫的离婚诉讼.

该澳门赌场官网助理是B澳门赌场官网事务所唯一聘用的诉讼澳门赌场官网助理, 希望指派她处理夫妻离婚的事宜. B澳门赌场官网事务所表示，离婚案件中与计划有关的问题“是[离婚]案件中非常小且容易分离的部分。." The inquirer therefore proposes to implement a protective "screening" procedure so that the paralegal would be isolated from all aspects of the divorce case relating to the Plans, 和 would assist only on the other aspects of the divorce case as if Husb和 was not involved in any pension or profit-sharing plans relevant to the divorce case.

讨论

In the case of a non澳门赌场官网 moving from one law firm to another, 规则1所反映的关于推定取消资格的严格一般规则.10 does not apply because 规则1.10 literally refers only to "澳门赌场官网s.“不过，规则5.3(a) requires a law firm to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the conduct of all non澳门赌场官网s "is compatible with the professional obligations of" the 澳门赌场官网s. One of the most fundamental obligations of the 澳门赌场官网s that must also be adhered to by the non澳门赌场官网s is the preservation of confidences 和 secrets of current clients 和 前的客户. That leads to a consideration of "screening" or an "ethical wall" in the instant case within Law Firm B as a means of ensuring that Husb和's confidences 和 secrets relating to the Plans will be preserved.

At the outset we hold that the work performed by the paralegal on the Plans at Law Firm A is a matter that is "substantially related" within the meaning of 规则 1.9和1.10(b) to the divorce matter pending at Law Firm B. 看,e.g.，我们的意见. 158 (9/17/85). The relationship between the Plans 和 the divorce matter in this inquiry may not be quite as close 和 direct as the relationship between the two matters discussed in a similar context in Opinion No. 158. 不过, it is clear that Husb和, as the principal owner of ABC Company, has a significant interest in, 从妻子的角度来看，这有很大的经济价值, the ABC Company's Plans.

可能在A澳门赌场官网事务所，澳门赌场官网助理实际上并没有接触到有关计划的机密信息或丈夫在其中的权益, 和 that in any event such sensitive 和 confidential information as may exist regarding Husb和's interest in the Plans will be required to be disclosed by him as part of the normal discovery process in the divorce matter. If so, those facts nevertheless are irrelevant under 规则1.9, 如果这两件事“实质相关”，那么哪一项要求结束分析," which we hold they are.

The inquirer appears to recognize the foregoing principle by its proposal to cure the problem by screening the paralegal from all aspects of the divorce matter (namely, (计划)与澳门赌场官网助理之前在A澳门赌场官网事务所的工作有实质性关系. 我们的结论是，在本调查所提出的情况下，筛选机制是允许的，只有当它有效地将澳门赌场官网助理与当事人隔离开来 整个 divorce matter at Law Firm B.

We have found no case law, 法律伦理意见, or other legal authority supporting the concept that, 在什么情况下，筛查适合于治疗某一特定事件的推定不合格, the screen may exist only as to a portion of that matter, 和 that the personally disqualified individual may participate in other portions of that matter that are assertedly unrelated to that individual's prior work for the former client. 事实上, in the District of Columbia 和 elsewhere there is considerable controversy regarding the propriety 和 practical effectiveness in general of a "screen" (also sometimes referred to as an "ethical wall" or "cone of silence") as a cure for imputed disqualification. 如果没有前客户(在这个案例中是丈夫)的同意，我们拒绝批准对某一事件的一部分进行部分筛选的新概念.

In the case of migratory non澳门赌场官网s 一般, we approve the pro-screening approach reflected in Informal Opinion 88-1526 (6/22/88) of the ABA St和ing Committee on Ethics 和 Professional Responsibility, the official synopsis of which is as follows:

A law firm that employs a non澳门赌场官网 who formerly was employed by another firm may continue representing clients whose interests conflict with the interests of clients of the former employer on whose matters the non澳门赌场官网 has worked, as long as the employing firm screens the non澳门赌场官网 from information about or participating in matters involving those clients 和 strictly adheres to the screening process described in this opinion 和 as long as no information relating to the representation of the clients of the former employer is revealed by the non澳门赌场官网 to any person in the employing firm. 除了, the non澳门赌场官网's former employer must admonish the non澳门赌场官网 against revelation of information relating to the representation of clients of the former employer.

因此, 如果澳门赌场官网事务所B的澳门赌场官网助理被有效地隔离在夫妻离婚事务的各个方面, Law Firm B may continue as counsel to Wife in that matter, whether or not Husb和 consents. 在这方面, 我们建议澳门赌场官网事务所B考虑以下一种或多种预防措施，以履行规则5规定的义务.确保澳门赌场官网助理与离婚事务有效隔离;

(a)该澳门赌场官网助理到B澳门赌场官网事务所报到工作之日或之前, (i)书面指示澳门赌场官网助理不得与澳门赌场官网事务所B的任何合伙人或雇员讨论离婚事宜或计划, (ii)反之, 以书面形式指示B澳门赌场官网事务所的每一位合伙人和雇员不得与澳门赌场官网助理讨论离婚事宜或计划.
(b) All of Law Firm B's files relating to the divorce matter could be "stickered" with a legend containing the substance of the restrictions described in (a) above.
(c)调查该澳门赌场官网助理是否从A澳门赌场官网事务所带来了任何与计划有关的文件或其他资料, 或者ABC公司, 或丈夫.

我们注意到, if the facts were otherwise the same as described above except that the person who was a paralegal at Law Firm A had subsequently attended law school 和 become a member of the 酒吧 by the time she reported to work at Law Firm B, 规则1中有一个特殊的规定——哥伦比亚特区独有的规定.10(b) that would cause our holding to be the same notwithst和ing the fact that the person involved is actually a member of the 酒吧 upon reporting for work at Law Firm B:

根据规则1，该公司被取消资格的情况不适用.(十)澳门赌场官网参加过先前的代理或者在本条第一款规定的情形下获得信息的.6(g).

规则1.6(g) explicitly extends the obligation of confidentiality imposed upon a 澳门赌场官网 to confidences 和 secrets obtained by a 澳门赌场官网 prior to becoming a member of the 酒吧 "in the course of providing assistance to another 澳门赌场官网."

进一步, 我们观察到, 如果事实与上述情况相同，但涉及的人在a澳门赌场官网事务所从事计划工作时是澳门赌场官网协会的成员, 在B澳门赌场官网事务所报到工作时，她是一名澳门赌场官网, a screening process of the kind approved above is not in itself effective to avoid the imputation of that individual's personal disqualification to the 整个 Law Firm B. Under the language of 规则1.10, (a)及(b)段, 澳门赌场官网事务所B只有在获得丈夫的同意后才可以雇用(和筛选)该人，才能避免被推定为不符合离婚事务的资格. This Committee held to that effect in Opinion No. 174 (6/17/86) under the previous Code, 以及哥伦比亚特区上诉法院根据规则1的评注[15].10 has explicitly confirmed that screening, 没有更多的, is not sufficient to avoid imputed disqualification under 规则1.10(b) in the case of a migratory 澳门赌场官网. 除了筛选外，还需要获得前客户的同意. The willingness of the former client to give such consent presumably will depend primarily on the extent to which that former client is satisfied that the migratory 澳门赌场官网 和 his or her new firm are trustworthy, 和 that the screen will be effective. 最后, 在前政府澳门赌场官网和其他公职人员转到私人澳门赌场官网事务所的背景下, 包括法官, 见规则1.11，一般允许在一定条件下进行筛选.

 调查没有. 91-10-45
Approved: April 21, 1992