Comm No 0001.08 - CC Response - Serve Legislative and Executive Branches

Home

Honorable Douglass Shipman Adams Chairman and Members of the Hawai'i County Charter Commission October 1, 2018 Page 3 of 5 B. Creation of the Powers, Duties, and Functions of the Corporation Counsel In 1968 and 1969, the County's Charter Commission ("Charter Commission"), studied and discussed the best form of governance for the County while considering the duties and responsibilities of the Corporation Counsel. The Charter Commission determined that the work of the Corporation Counsel is administrative in nature. See Charter Commission Minutes of the February 22, 1969, meeting at 32-34. And its members recognized that there is a "complicated and complex system of law" that would be handled and managed by the Corporation Counsel. Id. The Charter Commission further emphasized that the appointment by the Mayor and confirmation by the Council would provide adequate governmental checks and balances, since the Corporation Counsel is their legal advisor and legal representative as well. Id.; Charter Commission Minutes of the March 3, 1968 meeting and Charter Commission Minutes of the January 3, 1968, meeting at 19-20. C. Corporation Counsel's General Duties as a Governmental Lawyer In general, "a lawyer employed or retained by an organization represents the organization acting through its duly authorized constituents." Rule 1.13(a), Hawai'i Rules of Professional Conduct ("HRPC"). However, when the client is a governmental organization, as stated in Rule 1.13, comment [7], HRPC: [D]efining precisely the identity of the client and prescribing the resulting obligations of such lawyers may be more difficult Although in some circumstances the client may be a specific agency, it is generally the government as a whole. A lawyer representing an organization may also represent any of its officers or other constituents, subject, however to Rule 1.7, HRPC (Conflict of Interest: General rule), pertaining to conflict of interest. Rule 1.13(e), HRPC. Rule 1.13(f), HRPC, states, in part: If a government lawyer knows that an officer, employee or other person associated with the government is engaged in action, intends to act or refuses to act in a matter related to the lawyer's representation that is a violation of a legal obligation to the government or the public, or a violation of law which reasonably might be imputed to the government, the lawyer shall proceed as is reasonably necessary in the best interest of the government or the public. (Emphasis added.)