14-01 A licensed attorney employed by a state department as an investigator cannot serve both as a witness in an administrative hearing and as an advocate presenting the case in lieu of department legal counsel consistent with V.R.P.C. 3.7 if the attorney is a necessary witness in the hearing and is testifying about a contested issue.
97-02 Where plaintiff’s treating physician and medical expert is also an employee of a corporate medical facility defendant, plaintiff’s attorney may communicate directly with the physician regarding the physician’s treatment of plaintiff and the physician’s expert opinion regarding issues raised in the lawsuit. This is so notwithstanding an instruction by the corporate defendant’s attorney that plaintiff’s attorney not speak with the treating physician. This rule also applies to plaintiff’s second treating physician and medical expert who is an employee and vice president of the corporate medical facility defendant.
95-17 A lawyer may not interview administrative officers of a client’s local governmental employer concerning their knowledge of facts concerning the client’s injury while on the employer’s property without the consent of the attorney for the employer’s workers compensation insurer, where the lawyer has brought suit against individual co-employees and others but does not seek to hold the employer liable for the client’s injuries. The lawyer is not required to obtain the consent of the attorneys for the co-employee defendants in the lawsuit.
93-08 An attorney is not required to withdraw from general representation of a client in a complex litigation matter because the attorney may be called as a witness in a related proceeding. An attorney, who has previously represented all the heirs and the estate of a decedent in a wrongful death action, may not thereafter represent any one of the heirs in a contested action for distribution of the proceeds of the wrongful death action pursuant to 14 V.S.A. §1492, although the attorney may continue to represent the estate.
92-05 A Deputy State’s Attorney should not prosecute a case in which he or she will be called as a witness. However, the other attorneys in that prosecutor’s office are not necessarily required to recuse themselves from that case.
87-10 DR 5-105 prohibits a law firm from representing two clients in litigation in which one client is a party and the other client’s employees will testify, and the potential exists that their testimony will provide the basis for future litigation between the clients.
87-06 Attorney-witnesses who are involved in a civil action as a party and not as advocates may retain an associate from their own law firm to represent them
79-14 Attorney representing a client and at same time witness