LSW partner Gabi Friedman joined a group of distinguished white-collar practitioners on a panel sponsored by the ABA Criminal Justice Section at the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado to discuss a topic of increasing importance in white collar investigations– what happens when one law firm represents multiple witnesses in the same investigation?   

The session, entitled The Ethics of Simultaneous Representation: Navigating Pool Counsel Waters, dove into a topic that is common in practice but rarely the subject of judicial opinion– referred to colloquially as “pool counsel.”  Panelists broke down the characteristics of multiple representation in the investigation context,  reviewed relevant ethical rules and opinions, and considered what happens when things get tricky.

There was lively discussion of cases including the investigation of sexual assault at Penn State, where the university General Counsel represented multiple witnesses who were ultimately charged; the Georgia Electors case, where DA Fani Willis moved to disqualify the lawyer who represented multiple false Trump electors on the grounds there was a conflict of interest among the clients; and the Mar-A-Lago documents prosecution, where Special Counsel Jack Smith recently moved for a hearing to inquire into potential conflicts of interest arising from one lawyer’s representation of a defendant as well as three witnesses the government may call at trial.

Ilene Jaroslaw moderated the panel consisting of Gabi Friedman, Andrea Moseley, Jana Wolshak and AUSA Andrea Surratt.