Koo

An attorney representing a corporate defendant in a class action lawsuit concerning overtime wages for managers declared before the court that his firm represented both the defendant and its managers. He later clarified that his only intention in so declaring was to put opposing counsel on notice that the defendant corporation’s managerial agents were “represented parties” to the extent provided in State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, mle 2-100, but that he certainly did not mean to convey the impression that he represented the managers in their individual capacities. Of course, the obvious albeit unspoken corollary was that if the proscriptions of rule 2-100 were successfully invoked, his client would gain a tactical advantage in discovery. In any event, the attorney’s supplemental declarations were too late. He had already conveyed the impression that he baldly professed to represent all parties to the action, both the plaintiffs and the defendant. The trial court disqualified his firm from further participation in the case. The defendant challenges the disqualification on appeal.

We hold that an attorney’s unilateral declaration regarding representation cannot, by…