Advisory Opinion No. 96-30

Re: Alfred Ferruolo, Jr.

Question Presented

An elected city councilor, serving as a member of the Warwick City Council, requests an advisory opinion as to whether he may participate and/or vote on matters involving an individual or company that he previously represented in his capacity as an attorney given that the representation took place more than five years ago, is not an ongoing relationship and there are no plans for the relationship to recur in the future.

Response

The Code of Ethics does not prohibit the petitioner, an elected city councilor serving as a member of the Warwick City Council, from participating and/or voting on matters involving an individual or entity that he represented more than five years ago in his capacity as a private attorney. The representation is too remote in time for the petitioner to be considered a business associate (See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-2(8)) of the petitioner's, and, given that the petitioner does not have an ongoing relationship with the individual or entity nor specific plans to represent the party in the future (See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(f)), he is not otherwise prohibited from participating in matters relating to the individual or entity that come before the City Council.

Code Citations:

36-14-2(8)

36-14-5(f)

Keywords:

business associate