The South Carolina Bar Ethics Advisory Committee provides the full text of all ethics opinions since 1990 online. To find the opinion you need, simply use the search form below.
The opinions in this database contain the advice of the Committee based on the state of the law at the time of each opinion. Opinions are not updated to reflect changes in the Rules of Professional Conduct, more recent opinions, or other law. Further research may be necessary. Earlier opinions are available through vLex Fastcase.
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Ethics Advisory Opinion 89-01
An attorney should not enter into a contract to represent DSS at any review hearing involving a child which the attorney represented at the initial stages of the case. It is proper, however, for an attorney to represent S.C. DSS at a review hearing concerning a case in which the attorney has not been involved. Thus, attorneys can generally represent children at initial stages of certain child abuse cases and represent DSS at review hearings concerning child abuse cases in which they have not been involved. Such action by an attorney should not create a dual representation problem since the County Department of Social Services, against which the attorney takes a quasi-adversarial position in representing the children, and S.C. DSS are not identical agencies.
