Andric

AMENDED ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF LOW’S MOTION TO DISQUALIFY COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT

This motion involves an ethical issue that is all-too-recurring within the legal profession: under what circumstances may a law firm hire an attorney who has previously represented a party that is litigating against the firm’s client?

In this case, the professional issues are compounded by the fact that the parties themselves are attorneys. The plaintiffs are lawyers who served as Workers’ Compensation Judges for the California Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”). The claims and issues all arise out of their employment in that capacity. In their initial complaint plaintiffs sued at least one other administrative judge, an in-house lawyer, and their employer, the DIR, which administers the California workers’ compensation system. The lawyers who have been representing the defendants also work for the DIR. They are, in effect, in-house counsel for the very agency that employed plaintiffs. Now, on the proverbial eve of trial, plaintiff Low seeks to disqualify DIR’s counsel because of an actual or potential conflict of interest.

Despite the parties’ professional backgrounds — perhaps because of…