§4.7 - Withdrawal From Representation to Cure A Conflict of Interest (A/K/A The "Hot Potato" Rul

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§4.7 WITHDRAWAL FROM REPRESENTATION TO CURE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST (A/K/A THE "HOT POTATO" RULE)

Euphemistically called the "Hot Potato" rule, a long-standing principle of legal ethics dictates that an attorney may not withdraw from representation of a client to cure a current client conflict of interest. "[A] firm may not drop a client like a hot potato, especially if it is in order to keep happy a far more lucrative client." Picker Int'l, Inc. v. Varian Assocs.,670 F. Supp. 1363, 1365 (N.D. Ohio 1987), aff'd,869 F.2d 578 (Fed. Cir. 1989); Atlantic Specialty Ins. Co. v. Premera Blue Cross, No. C15-1927-TSZ, 2016 WL 1615430 (W.D. Wash. 2016). See Chapter 11, §11.2(4), of this deskbook.

Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers §132 cmt. c (2000), discussing the relationship between current-client and former-client conflict rules, states:

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Withdrawal is effective to render a representation "former" for the purposes of this Section if it occurs at a point that the client and lawyer had contemplated as the end of the representation (see § 32, Comment c). The representation will also be at an end for purposes of...