Officer Representation

An attorney can represent only one client at a time. There are times when an attorney's representation of a business would conflict with the interests of an officer of the company. The attorney hired for a business represents the interests of the business ONLY. If those interests come into conflict with the interests of the officer, the attorney hired to represent the business must represent the interests of the business, even if this means attacking the officer of the company. For that reason, it is at times best for the officer to hire independent counsel when the officer's interests may not be identical to the interests of the company.

While it is not always recommended to hire an attorney for an individual officer, this type of representation is one of the most misunderstood needs in the legal field, since officers often think of the company attorney as "their attorney". This misconception leads to last minute representation and can be extremely detrimental to the company officer's case, especially if a trial or inquiry has begun.