If a deputy prosecutor is engaged to a city police officer, must the whole prosecutor's office be disqualified from cases the officer is involved in?

Plain-English summary

The committee was asked about imputed disqualification of lawyers in a prosecutor's office. The question presented was whether a deputy prosecutor employed by the city, and his fiancee who is also employed by the city as a police officer, has a conflict of interest that requires referral of cases the deputy handled to another prosecuting agency.

The committee was of the opinion that there is no vicarious disqualification to other deputy prosecutors unless their independent judgment is tainted under RPC 1.7(b).

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994, before the Washington State Bar Association's adoption of the 2006 revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct. 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 Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance.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: Does one deputy prosecutor's relationship with a police officer disqualify the whole office?

A: The committee said there is no vicarious disqualification of other deputy prosecutors unless their independent judgment is tainted under RPC 1.7(b).

Q: When could other deputies be disqualified?

A: The committee framed the exception as a tainting of the other deputies' independent judgment under RPC 1.7(b), rather than automatic imputation from the relationship.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied RPC 1.10 (ABA Model Rule 1.10), the imputed-disqualification rule, and RPC 1.7(b) (ABA Model Rule 1.7), the material-limitation branch of the current-client conflict rule. The committee declined to impute the deputy's situation to the rest of the office automatically, conditioning any disqualification of other deputies on whether their own independent judgment was tainted.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• ABA Model Rule 1.7 (conflict of interest; current clients); Washington RPC 1.7(b)
• ABA Model Rule 1.10 (imputation of conflicts of interest); Washington RPC 1.10

See also

• WA Ethics Op. 1555: Prosecutor Married to a Probation Officer
• WA Ethics Op. 1566: Defense Lawyer Married to the City Attorney

Source

• Landing page: https://ao.wsba.org/print.aspx?ID=655

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

Advisory Opinion: 1574
Year Issued: 1994
RPC(s): RPC 1.7(b); 1.10
Subject: Imputed disqualification of prosecutor's office where one deputy prosecutor married to police officer

I have been instructed by the Rules of Professional Conduct Committee to respond to your request for an opinion regarding imputed disqualification of lawyers in the prosecutor's office. The question you presented is whether a deputy prosecutor employed by the city, and his fiancee who is also employed by the city as a police officer, has a conflict of interest which requires referral of cases handled to another prosecuting agency.

It was the RPC Committee's opinion that there is no vicarious disqualification to other deputy prosecutors unless their independent judgment is tainted under RPC 1.7(b).