道德意见280

Direct Communications Between a Lawyer Representing a Client and Members of a Local Government 董事会

根据规则4.2(d)，在d面前代表客户的澳门赌场官网.C. professional licensing board can properly contact individual board members to discuss the board's action against the lawyer's client. 澳门赌场官网还可以讨论董事会成员对董事会工作人员和内部运作的所谓不满，因为它们影响了澳门赌场官网的客户.

适用的规则

•规则4.2(d)(澳门赌场官网与政府官员的通信)

调查

The inquirer, a private practitioner, requests an opinion addressing whether, under 规则4.2(d), 澳门赌场官网可以直接与执照委员会的政府官员沟通，而无需事先获得委员会澳门赌场官网的同意. The inquirer represents a client who reached an unsatisfactory consent order with a D.C. health professional licensing board concerning the client's chiropractic license. 询问者认为，被派去支持发牌委员会的行政和法律人员既决定了结果，也在其客户的案件中行为不当. 除了, 据他了解，许多发牌委员会成员对工作人员在若干事项上把自己的意志强加于委员会感到不满. 因此, the inquirer is interested in contacting the individual board members to discuss two topics: (1) his client's consent order; and (2) board member's alleged dissatisfaction with the board staff and with other internal operational matters affecting both his client and other clients' matters. 规则4.2 generally prohibits contact between an attorney and opposing parties, unless the attorney has the prior consent of the lawyer representing the opposing party or is authorized by law to make contact. 规则4 (d)款.2, 然而, 规定，该规则“不禁止澳门赌场官网与有权纠正其当事人冤屈的政府官员进行沟通, whether or not those grievances or the lawyer's communications relate to matters that are the subject of the representation, 但如果发生此类通信，则在进行通信时向政府官员进行(b)中规定的披露.¹ 调查要求我们界定本节的范围.

讨论

规则4.2(d) authorizes a broad range of substantive communications between a lawyer for a private party and 政府官员. 基于立法历史及对规则4的评析[7].2[d], we conclude that neither of the communications proposed would violate 规则4.2.

在制定规则4时.2, the 董事会 of Governors of the District of Columbia 酒吧 concluded that ABA Model 规则4.2 should be amended to exclude entirely communications between attorneys and governmental officials from the "no contact" rule.² 起草者认识到，与政府当事方的接触应区别于与非政府当事方的接触. 与D一致.C. 酒吧Op. No. 80, 起草者解释说，当政府是反对方时，许多不同于私人诉讼的考虑因素也适用于此.³

例如，规则4.2 has at its core the societal concern that lawyers are better positioned, 通过教育和培训, to overwhelm the lay person and exploit his or her lack of legal knowledge in the course of communicating directly with the lay party. 这种关注并不完全适用于政府的情况，因为政府官员通常被认为有足够的能力抵制不适当和真正有说服力的法律或政策论点. 此外, 政府官员, 凭借他们的经验和专业知识, 是否有能力在没有寻求法律意见或澳门赌场官网在场的情况下决定是否与对方澳门赌场官网进行此类讨论.

The drafters also recognized that in litigation involving a governmental party, 做决定的权力却不是, 比如私人诉讼, entirely that of the client; rather, 政府和澳门赌场官网可以共同作出决定, 在某些情况下可以完全由澳门赌场官网决定. 在这种情况下, responsible 政府官员 may not know of positions taken by government counsel. 禁止与政府政党直接联系, 因此, may hinder rather than advance the goal of client control of the proceedings.

Another difference between private and governmental parties noted by the drafters is that the government represents the public. 因此, the public interest is not just that the government win a case but that the government advance the public interest. 允许与政府官员直接沟通——“那些最精通相互竞争的政策考虑和最有分析经验的人”, 之间的选择, and reconciling" a variety of public interests - facilitates such a result. 188年的立法史.

除了 to the different considerations applicable to governmental parties, 规则4的起草者.2 .承认禁止与政府官员联系可能侵犯第一修正案所保障的向政府请愿申诉的自由. Id At 188-189. First Amendment concerns recently led the ABA Ethics Committee recently to alter its position and issue an opinion under Model 规则4.第2条(其中对政府联系没有明确的例外)允许代表与政府有争议的私人当事人的澳门赌场官网与有权在该问题上采取行动或建议采取行动的政府官员就此事进行沟通, provided that the sole purpose of the lawyer's communication is to address a policy issue ...."

ABA正式意见97-408 (8/2/97).⁴

注释[7]我们的规则4.2, 然而, indicates that the right of a private party's attorney to communicate directly with 政府官员 is not absolute. 评注指出:“(d)段不允许澳门赌场官网绕过代表政府的澳门赌场官网处理与政府发生纠纷过程中可能出现的每一个问题.该评论进一步澄清，该规则“并非旨在为普通发现纠纷等日常纠纷提供直接途径。, 延长时间或其他安排事项, 或者类似的解决纠纷的常规方面.“评注[7]提供的例子表明，起草者只将有关程序事项的通信排除在允许与政府官员直接接触的范围之外, 大概是为了允许政府澳门赌场官网完全控制诉讼的日常行为，而不妨碍公众与政府官员之间的实质性沟通.⁵

在即时情况下, 询问者建议的两种通信似乎都属于(d)段所容许的通信范围。. 事实上, 与发牌委员会成员就某一特定事项所达成的结论以及据称政府人员的不当行为进行联系, i.e., the board's counsel and staff, is directly addressed by the commentary to paragraph (d). Specifically, comment [7] to the Rule explains that paragraph (d):

is intended to provide lawyers access to decision makers in government with respect to genuine grievances, such as to present the view that the government's basic policy position with respect to a dispute is faulty, or that government personnel are conducting themselves improperly with respect to aspects of the dispute.

因此，我们的结论是，拟议的通信符合规则4允许的与敌对政府官员直接通信的广泛范围.2(d).

调查没有. 97-9-43
通过:1998年3月18日

1. 规则4.2(b)允许澳门赌场官网在未经组织澳门赌场官网同意的情况下联系组织敌对方的较低级别员工. 该规则要求澳门赌场官网在与对方的任何非党派雇员沟通之前，披露自己的身份，并确定自己与雇员所在组织的敌对立场.
2. 规则4的明确政府例外.2 departs significantly from the predecessor provision DC 7-104(A)(1), see 意见没有. 80 (restricting access to 政府官员 under DR 7-104(A)(1)), 以及大多数州澳门赌场官网公会的规则. California is the only other jurisdiction that provides a specific exception to the no-contact rule for governmental parties, 参见《澳门赌场官方软件》第7-103条, 尽管一些司法管辖区将其禁止澳门赌场官网与对方接触的规则解释为允许与不利的政府官员进行某些接触，以免侵犯《澳门赌场官网》规定的向政府请愿申诉的权利. 参见A.B.A. 意见没有. 97-408 (1997) at n. 7.
3. 见《澳门赌场官方软件》及相关评论, 展示由美国澳门赌场官网协会提出的语言, Changed Recommended by the District of Columbia Model 职业行为准则 Committee, and Changes Recommended by the 董事会 of Governors of the District of Columbia 酒吧, 11月. 1986年第19页(“黄页立法史”)，第186-188页.
4. The ABA' s opinion requires that the lawyer give government counsel “reasonable advance notice of an intent to communicate,这是我们不接受的限制. We specifically do not intend this opinion to address whether and to what extent our 规则4.2 prohibits government counsel from approaching represented individuals. 看到Cmt. [8] D.C. 规则4.2.
5. 我们注意到D.C. 规则3.S(b) provides that lawyers are prohibited from communicating ex parte with judges, 陪审员, prospective 陪审员 or other officials "except as permitted by law," reiterating that under our 规则 applicable prohibitions on ex parte contacts must be observed. 一般参见《澳门赌场官方软件》第I 06(b)条(禁止直接向法院致函，除非法官另有指示)。. We are unaware of any such rules applicable to the situation considered in this opinion.