Can an Orleans Parish assistant district attorney also contract to represent the criminal court clerk?

Plain-English summary

An Orleans Parish assistant district attorney proposed to provide legal services to the Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court through his private practice under a professional services contract. The Louisiana Attorney General concluded that the arrangement was outside the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law's restriction on simultaneous public positions. The contract was not public “employment” as defined by that law, which covers a salary or per diem job.

The opinion gave a second, important conclusion. Concurrent work for the district attorney and criminal court clerk presented an inherent conflict of interest unless the two roles could be clearly and effectively separated and the lawyer could recuse from overlapping or interrelated matters. The AG did not give an ethics code ruling, which it said belongs to the Louisiana State Board of Ethics. It stated that the decision whether to proceed ultimately rested with the requester.

What this means for you

Assistant district attorneys

The opinion says a private professional services contract with the clerk does not by itself violate the cited dual officeholding law. It also says the described concurrent roles present an inherent conflict unless effective separation and recusal from overlapping matters are possible.

Court clerks considering outside counsel

For this proposed contract, the AG distinguished the dual officeholding classification from the conflict of interest concern. Its answer did not resolve a separate ethics code review of the arrangement.

Common questions

Q: Does Louisiana dual officeholding law prohibit an ADA from contracting with the court clerk?
A: The AG said no for the private professional services contract described. It treated that contract as outside the statute's definition of public employment.

Q: Did the AG find the two legal roles conflict-free?
A: No. It identified an inherent conflict unless the lawyer could clearly separate the roles and fully recuse from overlapping or interrelated matters.

Q: Did approval from the district attorney's office settle the question?
A: The opinion noted that office leadership agreed to allow the proposed work pending a favorable dual officeholding opinion, but still identified the conflict concern and left the ultimate choice to the requester.

Q: Did the opinion decide whether the ethics code allows the contract?
A: No. The Attorney General expressly left that issue and potential conflicts under the ethics code to the state Board of Ethics.

Background and statutory framework

The AG classified the full-time assistant district attorney role as an appointive office. It treated legal services provided through a private professional services contract differently from the salary or per diem public job described in La. R.S. 42:62(3). That resolved the dual officeholding question, while the opinion separately addressed the inherent conflict created by the two clients and roles.

Citations and references

• La. R.S. 42:62(3), the definition of public employment used to classify the contract.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/24-0111

Original opinion text

STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF THE ArroRNEY GENEiL
P.O. Box 94005
BATON RoUGE, LA
70804-9005

ATTORNEY GENERkL
July 24, 2025
OPINION 24-0111

78 Dual Officeholding
Mr. Blaise C. D’Antoni La. R.S. 42:61, etseq. La. Const. art. 5, § 26
389 LA-21, Suite4O2A
La. R.S. 16:1(A)
Madisonville, LA 70447
The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law
do not prohibit an Assistant District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans from providing legal services to the Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court through a professional services contract. However, the nature of such arrangement presents an inherent conflict of interest, uness a clear and effective separation can be established between the two roles and/or any overlapping or interrelated matters.

Dear Mr. D’Antoni:

Our office received your request for an opinion regarding whether an Assistant District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans may provide legal services to the Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court through a professional services contract.

Question: Whether an Assistant District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans may provide legal services to the Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court through a professional services contract.

Conclusion: The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law do not prohibit an Assistant District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans from providing legal services to the Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court through a professional services contract. However, the nature of such arrangement presents an inherent conflict of interest unless a clear and effective separation can be established between the two roles andlor any overlapping or interrelated matters.

The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law, found at La. R.S.
42:61 et seq., govern questions concerning the ability to hold two or more public offices ,

and/or positions simultaneously. Classifying the correct nature of the positions held is essential for the purposes of applying the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law.

The District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans is an elected official and is authorized to appoint Assistant District Attorneys.1 You indicated that you are a full-time Assistant District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans which is classified as a “full time” “appointive office” for the purposes of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law.2

La. Const. art. V, § 26 and La. R.S. 16:1(A).
2 “Full time” means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment and which is at least seven hours per day of work and at least thirty-five

Page 2

OPINION 24-0111
Mr. Blaise D’Antoni
Page 2

According to the information provided to this office, you are considering providing legal services to the Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court through a professional services contract. You will be providing these services through your private civil law practice.

Our office has consistently opined that the provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law are not applicable where an individual provides services through a professional services contract, because a contract is not considered a job compensated on a salary or per diem basis and does not constitute “employment” as defined by La. R.S. 42:62(3). Thus, the provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law do not apply to the legal services you may provide to the Clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court through a professional services contract.

We note that you have advised this office that the District Attorney, the First Assistant District Attorney, and the Chief of Staff have all agreed to allow your law firm to provide these legal services pending a favorable opinion from this office regarding dual officeholding. Based on the applicable provisions of law, our prior opinions, and the information you provided, it is the opinion of this office that office that the provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law do not apply. However, it is also our opinion that serving concurrently as an Assistant District Attorney for Orleans Parish and providing legal services to the Clerk of Criminal Court presents an inherent conflict of interest—unless a clear and effective separation can be established between the two roles, and you are able to fully recuse yourself from any overlapping or interrelated mailers.

Although we have pointed out the potential for this conflict of interest, please note that our expressed opinion is limited to an examination of the state law relating to Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment. The decision whether to proceed or not ultimately rests with you—our role is to provide this particular legal and ethical perspective—not to endorse or oppose the course of action. Further, please note that our opinion does not address the potential applicability of the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics, La. R.S. 42:1111 et seq. Advisory rulings addressing questions ,

under the Ethics Code, and potential conflicts of interest, are within the jurisdiction of the Louisiana State Board of Ethics. The Board may be contacted at the following address: P.O. Box 4368, Baton Rouge, LA 70821 phone: 225-219-5600.
,

hours per week of work. La. R.S. 42:62(4). “Appointive office” means any office in any branch of government or other position on an agency board, or commission, or any executive office of any agency, board, commission or department which is specifically established or specifically authorized by the constitution or laws of this state or by the charter or ordinances of any political subdivision thereof and which is filled by appointment or election by an elected or appointed public official or by a governmental body composed of such officials of this state or of a political subdivision thereof. La. R.S. 42:62(2). La. Atty. Gen. Op. Nos. 24-0107, 22-0007, 20-0040, 19-0021, 18-0177, 18-0076, 18-0032 17-0111, 17- 0046, 17-0002, 16-0190, 16-0189 13-0028,12-0241, 08-0296, 07-0218, 06-0213, 02-0342, 96-359, 95- 391, 92-43, 90-578 and 80-413.

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OPINION 24-0111
Mr. Blaise D’Antoni
Page 3

We hope that this opinion adequately addresses the legal issues you have raised. If our office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

LIZ MURRILL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:_______
Chimène St. Amant
Assistant Attorney General
LM: CS