COMDTINST 5801.4E
Each attorney is professionally responsible for his or her own work product and that of any
paralegal, legal technician, administrative or clerical personnel to whom legal assistance functions
are delegated. Attorneys who perceive conflicts between Coast Guard and other rules of
professional conduct should request advice and guidance from their immediate supervisors and
their Command Directors of Legal Assistance.
a. Electronic Advice. The explosion in the use of electronic media of all types has created great
opportunities to provide legal assistance to individuals remote from the legal assistance office.
Special care must be taken to safeguard client confidentiality when using email, fax, video
teleconferencing and other forms of electronic media.
b. Conflicts. Within a legal assistance office, individual legal assistance attorneys shall not
knowingly undertake to represent a client whose interest in a matter conflicts with that of a
preexisting legal assistance client in that office. When a conflict exists, the excluded party
should be referred to another legal assistance office, to an independent duty judge advocate or
reservist legal assistance attorney or to a DOD legal assistance office. Command Directors of
Legal Assistance are encouraged to coordinate work with other armed forces legal assistance
offices within their areas of responsibility to facilitate the handling of conflicted cases among
each other. When no alternative legal assistance provider is reasonably available, conflicted
individuals should be provided information on how to retain civilian counsel.
(1) Conflict Checking. As a matter of sound legal practice, conflict checks shall normally be
performed before accepting a legal assistance client and establishing an attorney-client
relationship. A non-attorney staff member normally accomplishes these during the "intake"
process. The electronic Case Matter Management Timekeeping (CMMT) system, known as
Law Manager, shall be used as the primary means of performing conflict checking. More
information regarding Law Manager can be found in enclosure (1). It is recognized that
there may be times when normal conflict checking is not possible (e.g., emergency situations,
technical difficulties, etc.). In such times the Command Director of Legal Assistance shall
make a determination as to procedures to be followed and what services, if any, may be
provided.
(2) Sole Practitioners. The billets at Training Centers Yorktown and Cape May and the Coast
Guard Yard and the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy pose unique problems of potential
conflicts of interest because, in addition to being command legal assistance attorneys, they
are also the Staff Judge Advocates. These independent duty legal officers shall not provide
legal assistance services to an eligible beneficiary who is under investigation of potential
UCMJ violations or has current UCMJ charges pending. Any question or doubt whether
there is an on-going military justice issue shall be resolved by the independent duty legal
officer declining representation for legal assistance. The attorney in these situations shall
assist the client by providing referrals to alternate sources of legal assistance.
c. Referrals. On occasion, the legal assistance attorney may be unavailable, or a client may
present a complicated case requiring specialized legal skills or which ultimately must be handled
in court. In each of these instances, the client shall be referred to a legal services office, a local
bar referral service or a private attorney from a list of local attorneys who have provided
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