It’s not especially unusual when multiple people are charged with the same crime for one of them who has considerably more assets than the other(s) to hire an attorney to represent all of them. This can happen when several young people are arrested together and the parents of one of the kids offer to let their attorney represent everyone.
Sometimes a person who hasn’t been charged with a crime will offer to pay for legal representation for someone who works for them. For example, a business owner may convince an employee facing a white-collar crime charge to let them “provide” an attorney for them.
Attorneys are not prohibited from representing more than one person in a criminal case – unless there’s a conflict of interest. In both of the scenarios above, there could well be a conflict of interest if the attorney is more interested in protecting the child of the client paying them than the others or in making sure that the employee who’s been charged doesn’t say anything to implicate their boss or harm the company.
What does the California State Bar say?
The California State Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct state that a client must give informed written consent to any potential conflict of interest their attorney may have. The attorney’s responsibilities go beyond obtaining that consent. They must “reasonably believe” they can “provide competent and diligent representation to each affected client” and not make any “assertion of a claim by one client against another client represented by the lawyer.”
The Rules also state that the person paying the attorney cannot be allowed to interfere with their advice to their client, any decisions made on their behalf or the attorney-client relationship.
Too often, people accept these offers by others because they think this is the best way to protect themselves. However, no matter how well-known the attorney may be, if their primary interest is in protecting someone else, you’re better off hiring an attorney you can afford to pay yourself (or with the help of a trusted relative) or even asking for a public defender.
If you believe you were harmed because an attorney hired to represent you had an undisclosed conflict of interest, you may have grounds for a legal malpractice claim. It’s smart to learn more.