辯護士의 利害衝突 防止義務

Lawyers' Duty to Avoid the Conflict of Interest

Legal ethic or lawyers' professional responsibility is a largely neglected area of legal study in Korea. However, it will attract more concern from lawyers and academics as the legal ethic is now designated as the bar examination subject. Among many topics of the legal ethic, the duty to avoid the conflict of interest is the weakest point. In fact, the ethic standard in Korea is very fragile and weak. Though the conflict of interest is the basic ethic rule in the society, it is stll largely ignored in Korea. Current Korean law and code for the lawyers' duty to avoid the conflict of interest is very incomplete and vulnerable. On the other hand, the U.S. has elaborate and detailed rules on that matter. This article is to analyze the various aspects of the lawyers' duty to avoid the conflict of interest in the U.S. ABA Model Rules on Professional Conduct has long and detailed provisions, the rules on the current clients, former clients, imputation to other lawyers, and former government officers and employees. These rules are now adopted in all the states through legislation. This article analyzes ABA's rules on the conflict of interest and related cases. Leading cases such as Cuyer v. Sullivan, Wheat v. U.S., Westing House Electrics Co. v. Kerr-McGee Co., Brennan's Inc. v. Brennan's Restaurants, Inc., In re American Airlines, Inc., Silver Chrysler Plymouth, Inc. v. Chrysler Motors Corporation, and Armstrong v. McAlpine are also analyzed. The article argues that as the current Korean law and code on this matter is too weak and incomplete, Korea should incorporate ABA rules and related case law.