§ 3311 Governmental entity as party.

When a government agency takes part in collaborative law (a process where both sides work with lawyers to settle a case without going to court), the same basic rule applies as with any other party. The lawyer who acts as the collaborative lawyer for that agency cannot later represent the agency in court if the collaborative process breaks down. This keeps the process fair, since collaborative law only works if both sides know their collaborative lawyer will not turn around and fight them in a lawsuit later.

However, there is an exception. Another lawyer at the same law firm can step in and represent the government agency later, even in the same case or a related one. This is allowed only if two things happen. First, the written agreement that set up the collaborative process must have already said this could happen. Second, the firm must keep the original collaborative lawyer completely walled off from the new case, so that lawyer has no involvement or influence over it.

This rule exists so that hiring a lawyer at a big firm does not automatically block that whole firm from ever helping the government agency again. As long as the firm sets up real safeguards to separate the collaborative lawyer from the later case, another lawyer at the firm can take over.