The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas is accepting public comments on the following proposed ethics opinion through December 21.
- Proposed Opinion 21-4: (1) May a lawyer who practices in a private law firm that regularly represents a public entity accept a position with a hiring law firm that is routinely adverse to the public entity, without creating a conflict for all lawyers in the hiring firm? (2) Given that the public entity client is governed by open meetings and open records laws, and aspects of the firm’s representation of the public entity are disclosed publicly or are available under law, does the “generally known” exception to a lawyer’s obligations of confidentiality allow the hiring firm to avoid the migrating lawyer’s conflicts? (3) Does Rule 1.10 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, which allows ethical screening for government lawyers who move to a private law firm, apply to a lawyer who previously represented public entities at a private law firm?
Go here to read the proposed opinion and provide comments.