Advisory Opinion No. 97-112

Re: Robert A. Ricci

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioners, North Providence Town Councilors, municipal elected officials, request an advisory opinion as to whether they may consider and/or act favorably upon an application for Town Solicitor received from an attorney who represented them privately in complaint proceedings before the Ethics Commission.

RESPONSE

 It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioners, North Providence Town Councilors, municipal elected officials, may consider an application for Town Solicitor from an attorney who represented them privately in complaint proceedings provided that the attorney/client relationship has ended. This opinion is based on the fact that previous Commission rulings have recognized that the attorney/client relationship may constitute a "business association" under the Code of Ethics, thus requiring recusal, particularly when the relationship is on-going or recurs on a regular basis. Here, the Petitioners represent that they do not have ongoing or anticipated attorney/client relationships with any of the applicants for the position of Town Solicitor. The Petitioners also advised that two of the other applicants represented a Councilor and/or his family in matters a number of years ago, but that the representation has ended. Given that there is no ongoing or anticipated personal attorney/client relationship with the applicants, the Councilors may participate in each application assuming no other conflicts are present.

Code Citations:

36-14-2(8)

36-14-5(a)

Related Advisory Opinions:

96-30

96-62

96-68

96-100

Keywords:

Business associate