Can a lawyer who serves on a city zoning board of adjustment represent clients before the planning commission and city council on matters outside the board's work?
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This page answers the general question as of 1963. Ezel answers yours: whether it's allowed on your facts, under the current Texas Rules of Professional Conduct, with citations.
Plain-English summary
X, a practicing attorney, sat on the Zoning Board of Adjustment of a home-rule city. The Board's jurisdiction was limited to granting special exceptions to the zoning ordinances and granting variances as to use, occupancy, and setbacks. The question was whether X was prohibited from representing citizens of the city before the Planning Commission and the City Council on matters that did not come within the Board's jurisdiction and were not appeals from the Board's actions.
The Committee answered that X was not prohibited. It concluded that a lawyer who acts with propriety and good judgment should be able to serve on a city zoning board of adjustment and also represent clients before other city boards and the city council on matters not connected with the work of the zoning board of adjustment. The Committee ruled 9-0.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1963, under the former Texas Canons of Ethics, which the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct replaced effective January 1, 1990. Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.
Common questions
Q: Can a lawyer on a zoning board of adjustment represent clients before other city bodies?
A: Under this opinion, yes, on matters not connected with the work of the zoning board, so long as the lawyer acts with propriety and good judgment.
Q: Did the Committee require the matters to be unrelated to the board's work?
A: Yes. The permission ran to representation on matters not coming within the board's jurisdiction and not arising from appeals of the board's actions.
Background and rules framework
The opinion interprets former Texas Canon 6, on representing conflicting interests, as applied to a lawyer who holds a part-time municipal board position. The modern analog is ABA Model Rule 1.7, governing concurrent conflicts of interest.
Citations and references
Rules of Professional Conduct:
- MR 1.7 (concurrent conflicts of interest), as the modern analog
- Texas Canon 6 (former canon)
See also
- TX Ethics Op. 272: Law Partners of a City's Mayor Before the Corporation Court
- TX Ethics Op. 296: Assistant County Attorney's Private Eminent-Domain Practice
- TX Ethics Op. 281: Delinquent-Tax Attorney Representing a Defendant in His Own Tax Suit
Source
- Landing page: https://www.legalethicstexas.com/resources/opinions/opinion-274/
- Original PDF: https://tcle-web.s3.amazonaws.com/public/documents/Opinion_274.pdf
Original opinion text
Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.
QUESTION PRESENTED
X, a practicing attorney, is a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment of a home-rule city. The Board's jurisdiction is limited to the granting of special exceptions to the terms of the zoning ordinances, and the granting of variances as to use occupancy and setbacks.
Is X prohibited from representing citizens of the city in appearances before the Planning Commission and before the City Council with reference to matters not coming within the jurisdiction of the Board of Adjustment or not in connection with appeals from actions of the Board of Adjustment?
18 Baylor L. Rev. 274 (1966)
CONFLICTING INTERESTS - MEMBERSHIP ON A ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
A lawyer may be a member of a city zoning board of adjustment and also represent clients before other city boards and the city council on matters not connected with the work of the zoning board of adjustment.
Canon 6.
No. A lawyer who acts with propriety and good judgment should be able to serve on a city zoning board of adjustment and also represent clients before other city boards and the city council on matters not connected with the work of the zoning board of adjustment. (9-0.)
Tex. Comm. On Professional Ethics, Op. 274 (1963)
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