From Our Readers
| Publication year | 1990 |
| Pages | 1865 |
1990, September, Pg. 1865. From Our Readers
As you know, criminal prosecutors have long felt that, with regard to criminal justice issues, bar associations have been dominated by private lawyers who are paid to represent criminal defendants. These criminal defense lawyers have often sought to do through bar-approved rules what they have not been successful in achieving through legislation, amendments to the rules of criminal procedure, or the courts. Your [President Jerry Conover's] message in the July 1990 edition of The Colorado Lawyer [at page 1297] makes it appear that the criminal defense bar is making headway in this regard in Colorado.
It does not advance the interests of an orderly society for bar associations to adopt an agenda driven by criminal defense lawyers which strips the criminal investigative and prosecutive process of lawful enforcement powers. Where bar associations adopt rules making it unethical to employ or enforce statutes passed by Congress and approved by the Courts---where a prosecutor could lose his or her license for enforcing these valid laws of the United States---the standards of our profession become absurd.
The Department of Justice expects its attorneys to use the ABA's code of ethics as a guide for conduct. Department attorneys can be subject to discipline by the Department under our internal rules for violating a bar ethics rule in appropriate cases.
On the other hand, there can be situations in which literal compliance with a bar-approved ethics rule may be inconsistent with a criminal prosecutor's ability and, indeed, duty, to carry out his or her responsibilities under the law. In such a situation, the bar-approved rule has heretofore been interpreted by prosecutors and even by local bar associations in a way that accommodates the legitimate and historical needs of law enforcement. That accommodation appears to be eroding under new and expansive readings urged by criminal defense lawyers as amplified by your July message to CBA members.
Because your message shows a fundamental lack of understanding of these issues, I want to address one of the four criminal justice issues you have touched upon in your message---that is, the so-called "codes of ethics" being adopted by local bar associations at the urging of criminal defense lawyers which purport to forbid...
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