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Board of Governors Passes Proposed DR 1.10(d) on Public Defender Conflicts
The State Bar Board of Governors passed on Oct. 29, 2011, by a vote of 58 to 26, an amendment to Disciplinary Rule 1.10 on imputed conflicts of interest, adding the following paragraph:
(d) A lawyer representing a client of a public defender office shall not be disqualified under this rule because of the representation by the office of another client in the same or a substantially related matter unless there is a conflict defined by Rules 1.7, 1.8(f) or 1.9.
This was in response to concerns about the practical and financial impact on the statewide public defender system of a strict interpretation of Formal Advisory Opinion 10-1. The amendment does not lower any ethical standards or treat indigent criminal defendants as second class citizens. It does, however, clarify that there is not a disqualifying conflict in all cases involving multiple indigent defendants. The Bar will work with the public defender system to review specific procedures for management of potential conflicts.