MARYLAND STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, INC.
COMMITTEE ON ETHICS
ETHICS DOCKET NO. 2007-02
Conflict of Interest Rules as Applied to State’s Attorneys Engaged in Representation of Bureau of Support Enforcement (Reconsideration and/or Application of Ethics Docket 06-11)
The Ethics Committee of the Maryland State Bar Association, after having reviewed the
Annotated Code of Maryland, Family Law Article Sections 10-101 ct seq., has determined that Ethics
Docket 2006-1 1 should be withdrawn.
At the time it rendered its Opinion, the Committee was not aware of the applicability of the Maryland Code sections. It is the Committee’s opinion that those code sections clearly state that an attorney who is involved in a legal proceeding under those sections represents only the Child Support Enforcement Administration of the Department of Human Resources. The code sections further provide that representation creates an attorney-client relationship between that attorney and the administration and does not create an attorney-client relationship between that attorney and any other person. The code sections further provide that the attorney representing the Administration in a legal proceeding under those sections shall advise the person whom the Administration has approved for child support services that the attorney’s representation of the Administration does not create an attorney-client relationship between the attorney and that person.
In light of the fact that the actions of an attorney acting under the above-mentioned code sections are statutorily mandated, it is the opinion of the Committee that the attorney’s actions would be ethically permissible, provided the terms of the statute are carefully followed.