MARYLAND STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, INC.
COMMITTEE ON ETHICS
ETHICS DOCKET NO. 2008-07
Ethics of Advising, And Actively Promoting, Church-Sponsored Sanctuary for Undocumented Aliens
Your inquiry has been considered by the Committee on Ethics of the Maryland State Bar Association, and I have been assigned to respond to you on behalf of the Committee.
You advise that you are employed as an immigration attorney and provide legal representation to the low-income clients through a church organization’s immigration program. Many churches and denominations are currently considering a “sanctuary movement” which would encourage and support local churches that wish to offer “sanctuary” to undocumented immigrants “…and shelter them from arrest and detention efforts by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” Although your church’s programs do not include such a sanctuary program, you have been asked if you could participate in “efforts to plan, organize, coordinate and support the establishment of local sanctuary churches”; or, in the alternative, “offer information and legal analysis of courses of action that the “sanctuary churches” consider taking.
An analysis of the issues you have raised appears to be governed by Rules 1.2 and 8.4. Specifically, Rule 1.2, in pertinent part, provides:
(a) Subject to paragraphs (c) and (d), a lawyer shall abide by a client’s decisions concerning the objectives of the representation and, when appropriate, shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued.”
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(d) A lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent, but a lawyer may discuss the legal consequences of any proposed course of conduct with a client and may counsel or assist a client to make a good faith effort to determine the validity, scope, meaning or application of the law.
The Committee invites your attention to the comments with regard to Rule 1.2 and in particular comments 9 and 10, pertaining to subparagraph (d) above. These comments suggest that you avoid any further conduct in assisting the clients in the efforts to offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants “….and shelter them from arrest and detention” in the sanctuary churches for which you would act as an organizer, coordinator, leader, and supporter. See also, Attorney Griev. Comm’n. v. Protokowicz, 329 Md. 252 (1993); Rule 1.6 and Rule 8.4 and comments thereto.
The Committee’s Guidelines prohibit it from opining on issues of law. It suggests that you review the applicable statutory and case law relating to your inquiry. As noted in Rule 1.2(d), you may discuss your findings with your client to advise it as to the legality of its proposed undertakings.
The Committee trusts that the foregoing is responsive to your inquiry.
REFERENCES:
Attorney Griev. Comm’n. v. Protokowicz, 329 Md. 252 (1993)
Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct: 1.2(a) and (d); 1.6; 8.4
ASSIGNED TO: Donald E. Sharpe
DATE ASSIGNED: December 6, 2007
DATE DISTRIBUTED: April 17, 2008