Advisory Opinion No. 2001-62

Re: Timothy M. Bliss, Esq.

QUESTION PRESENTED

The petitioner, an associate in the law firm of Powers, Kinder & Keeney, Ltd., requests an advisory opinion as to whether he is required to file an annual financial disclosure statement with the Ethics Commission, given that various municipalities have appointed shareholders of the firm as assistant solicitors.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, an associate in the law firm of Powers, Kinder & Keeney, Ltd., is not required to file a financial disclosure statement, provided that 1) he did not take an oath of office as an assistant solicitor; and 2) he did not perform legal work for those municipalities which have designated shareholders of the firm as assistant solicitors. In the event that he has performed legal work for any of those municipalities, he is required to file a financial disclosure statement in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-16.

The petitioner is an associate attorney with the law firm of Powers, Kinder & Keeney, Ltd., which acts as labor counsel to several Rhode Island municipalities and school committees. He advises that some municipalities have formally appointed a shareholder of the firm as an assistant solicitor and those individuals have taken an oath of office. He informs that he is not a shareholder of the firm, nor has he taken any oath of office. He represents that he does not know whether he has worked on any legal matters relating to those municipalities that have appointed a shareholder as its assistant solicitor.

The Code of Ethics requires all state and municipal elected and appointed officials to file annual financial statements with the Ethics Commission. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-16.

The General Assembly has deemed that if an official is appointed by the highest governing body of the state or municipality or for a term of office and exercises governmental functions other than in an advisory nature, the public official is required to file a personal financial statement pursuant to the Code of Ethics. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-2(9).

In General Commission Advisory No. 2, the Commission concluded that where a law firm is appointed as town solicitor, all members of the firm working in the capacity of a solicitor are required to file an annual financial disclosure statement. The Commission recognizes that where a law firm, rather than an individual attorney, has been designated as city or town solicitor, it should not require all members of the firm to file a financial statement. This conclusion is predicated on the Commission's obligation to give practical and workable meaning to the provisions of the Code of Ethics. However, where only one member of the law firm files the financial statement, but such attorney is not the only member of the firm doing legal work for the municipality, a situation arises where there might be an appearance of impropriety, in violation of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-1. This may occur even where the filing attorney performs the majority of the work for the municipality, but is assisted by other members of the firm.

Accordingly, the Commission concludes that the petitioner is not subject to the dictates of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-16 unless he has performed legal services for those municipalities that have designated a shareholder of his firm as an assistant solicitor. If he has not performed any related legal work, he need not file a financial statement with the Commission. In the event that the petitioner does not perform any legal services for those municipalities in the calendar year subsequent to filing his annual financial statement, it is his responsibility to provide such notice to the Commission. He is not required to file for any calendar year in which he does no legal work for those municipalities, but unless the Commission is informed of the change in circumstances, the petitioner would be at risk that a non-filing Complaint could be filed against him

Code Citations:

36-14-1

36-14-16

Related Advisory Opinions:

98-78

GCA 2

Keywords:

Code jurisdiction

Financial disclosure