TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Sheryl L. Bratton, County Counsel
REPORT BY: Sheryl L. Bratton, County Counsel
SUBJECT: Informed Consent Letter
RECOMMENDATION
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Approve and authorize the Informed Consent Letter with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore to allow the law firm to represent the Community College District in negotiations between the County and the College District for law enforcement services. (No fiscal Impact; Discretionary)
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BACKGROUND
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore ("LCW") is retained by the County for legal advice on specialized employment matters, including assisting the County with CalPERS cost sharing and industrial retirement issues. LCW has been asked by Napa Valley Community College District ("District") to provide it with legal advice in connection with reviewing an agreement for law enforcement services between the District and Napa County for the housing areas owned by the District.
Because the District and the County are each separate and individual clients of LCW, informed written consent is required before LCW can proceed with reviewing the agreement on behalf of the District. The informed consent is limited to LCW's representation of the District in the negotiation of the law enforcement services agreement. The County's consent to this representation would not apply to any other matter or services provided by LCW to the County.
California Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.7(a) requires that lawyers obtain informed written consent from each client when the representation of one client is directly adverse to another client in the same or a separate matter. An attorney owes a duty to represent a client with undivided loyalty and without being influenced by the interests of others, including interests of other current clients in unrelated matters. Absent consent, a lawyer may not act as an advocate in one matter against a person the lawyer represents in some other matter, even when the matters are wholly unrelated. The parties will ...
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