Could Terrebonne assistant district attorneys privately contract to provide part-time legal services to the parish?

Plain-English summary

Two Terrebonne Parish assistant district attorneys were asked to provide part-time legal services to the parish through their private practices. In Opinion 03-0428, the Louisiana AG said the dual-officeholding law did not prohibit the arrangement as described. The AG assumed the law firms would have contracts with the parish, so each attorney's second role was contractual rather than a second public office or public employment.

The opinion answered only the dual-officeholding question on that contractual assumption. It did not analyze a different arrangement in which an attorney became a parish employee.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Assistant district attorneys

The AG said their public positions did not trigger a dual-officeholding prohibition against providing part-time legal services through private law-firm contracts with the parish government. The contractual character of the second role mattered to the answer.

Terrebonne Parish officials

The opinion treated the proposed outside legal service as a contract with the attorneys' firms. It did not decide whether the same result would follow if the parish hired the attorneys into a second public employment position.

Common questions

Could an assistant district attorney also provide private legal services to the parish?

The AG answered yes under the dual-officeholding law for the part-time, law-firm contract described in the request.

Why did the dual-officeholding law not apply?

The AG said those restrictions concerned simultaneous public offices or public employments. It assumed the firms' parish work was contractual.

Did the opinion approve a second parish staff job for the lawyers?

No. It analyzed a contract through their private practices, not a second public employment position.

Background and statutory framework

Terrebonne Parish District Attorney Joseph L. Waitz, Jr. asked whether two assistant district attorneys could provide legal services to the consolidated parish government through their private practices. The AG described the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Laws, R.S. 42:61, et. seq., as governing combinations of public offices and employments. Because the proposed parish work was assumed to be under law-firm contracts, the AG found the restrictions inapplicable.

Citations and references

• R.S. 42:61, et. seq.: dual-officeholding and dual-employment framework described in the opinion.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0428

Original opinion text

OE ART 4ENT UST CE One American Place
301 Main Street, Suite 600
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
RICHARD P. IEYOUB 70804-9005 FAX: (225) 342-2090
ATTORNEY GENERAL

DEC % 6 2003
OPINION 03-0428

78 DUAL OFFICEHOLDING
Honorable Joseph L. Waitz, Jr.
Assistant District Attorney may also provide legal
Terrebonne Parish District Attorney services by contract with the parish government.
7856 Main Street
Courthouse Annex Suite 220
Houma, Louisiana 70360

Dear Mr. Waitz:

You advise us that two of your Assistant District Attorneys have been approached to perform, in their private practices, legal services for the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government on a part-time basis. You ask if the arrangement is legal.

The Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Laws, R.S. 42:61, et. seq., are applicable only where two or more public offices and/or employments are simultaneously held.
Here, we assume the law firm has a contractual relationship with the parish government to provide legal representation. Because one of the positions is held on a contract basis, the dual officeholding provisions are not involved. We find the law does not prohibit an assistant district attorney from providing contract legal services via his law firm to the parish government.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:
~ATRICK
ASSISTANT ,~TTORNEY GENEI

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