when a lawyer leaves private practice for government service

Leaving the government for private practice. ER 1.11(a) prohibits a lawyer who leaves government service for private practice from repre-senting a private client in connection with a matter3 in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially while in government service unless the appropriate government agency gives its informed consent. The government obviously doesn’t want a “side-switcher” using knowl-edge about the government’s case when a former employee becomes a lawyer in a firm representing the government’s opponent.4 But the rule goes even further in that it applies even though the matter involves a case where the private client is not adverse to the government agency involved, and even when the government and the private client have congruent interests. This under-lines the underlying purpose of giving the government agency what initially appears to be unfair leverage over lawyers leaving government service: it is intended to prevent the lawyer, while employed by the government, from exploiting public office for the possible benefit of persons that may later become private clients, enhancing the lawyer’s own career in the process.5 The rule is therefore quite different from ER 1.9 (Duties to Former Clients), which requires a former client to show, in order to disqualify its former lawyer, that the lawyer is threatening to represent another person in the same or substantially related matter in which that person’s interests are “materially adverse”

Full Answer

Can a lawyer engage in private practice as a CHR?

Supreme Court Rule 4-1.11 is designed to limit potential ethical problems when lawyers move from government service to private practice and vice versa. For example, the rule seeks to prohibit a lawyer who formerly worked for the government from improperly using confidential government information, say for the advantage of a future private client.

What is the difference between governmental and private lawyers?

Leaving the government for private practice. ER 1.11(a) prohibits a lawyer who leaves government service for private practice from repre-senting a private client in connection with a matter3 in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially while in government service unless the appropriate government agency gives its informed consent.

Can government employees engage directly in private practice?

A lawyer who leaves private practice to enter government service owes important and continuing ethical obligations to her former clients. 3. 1. Confidentiality. First and foremost among a lawyer’s duties to former clients is the duty of confidentiality. Rule 1. 6 (a) prohibits a lawyer from revealing a confidence or secret of the lawyer’s ...

Is it better to work for the government or private law?

Apr 02, 2015 · Those who leave government for law firms are viewed as cashing in on their experience, when in fact it could be argued that the opposite is true. In fact, government agencies have the opportunity to attract the best and the brightest, idealistic, hard-working lawyers at a huge discount to the compensation they could earn if they stayed at a large law firm.