LEO #1612 CONFLICT OF INTERESTS; ATTORNEY REPRESENTING PERSONAL
          INJURY CLIENTS WHEN DEFENDANT IS INSURED BY CARRIER FOR
          WHOM ATTORNEY ALSO SELLS AUTO INSURANCE POLICIES

You have presented a hypothetical situation in which an attorney
desires to open a business as an independent insurance agent.  A
personal injury client has been referred to him.  The client was
injured by a person who is insured by an insurance company for whom
the attorney may have sold automobile insurance policies to other
persons on behalf of the company. 

You have asked the committee to opine, under the facts of the
inquiry, (1) whether there is a conflict of interest in
representing a client in a personal injury claim against a
defendant insured by a carrier for whom the attorney may have
written policies; and (2) whether the attorney may own an interest
in a corporation/insurance agency which sells liability insurance
and also represent clients against the insurance company's insured
tortfeasors for whom he has not written the policies.

The appropriate and controlling Disciplinary Rule related to your
inquiry is DR 5-101(A), which provides that, except with the
consent of his client after full and adequate disclosure under the
circumstances, a lawyer shall not accept employment where the
exercise of the  lawyer's professional judgment on behalf of his
client may be affected by the lawyer's own financial, business,
property, or personal interests. 

The committee reiterates its prior opinion that, with full
disclosure and informed consent of a personal injury client, it
would not be improper for the attorney to simultaneously represent
the client and engage in the related entrepreneurial activity of
selling insurance policies.  See LEO #1311. 

The committee also opines that it would not be improper for the
attorney to represent a client against a liability insurance
company (or its insured) in which the attorney has an ownership
interest but for whom the attorney has not written the policy in
question.  The committee reiterates that the attorney must make the
requisite disclosure to, and receive consent from, the client under
DR 5-101(A).  The attorney's disclosure must be such that his
client is able to make an informed decision.  See LEO #187.   
             
[DR 5-101(A); LEOs #187, 1311]

Committee Opinion
September 21, 1994