SUMMARY: A lawyer represented conflicting interests when he represented a party against a company where he used to be a stockholder and counsel.
FACTS: Paces Industrial Corporation (PACES) filed a case against its former lawyer, Atty. Edgardo Salandanan for allegedly committing malpractice and/or gross misconduct when he represented conflicting interests. Salandanan became a stockholder of PACES and later became its Director, Treasurer, Administrative Officer, Vice-President for Finance, and then its counsel. Disagreements on various management policies ensued among the stockholders and officers in the corporation forcing Salandanan and his group to sell out their shareholdings in the company. After said sell-out, Salandanan started handling a case between E.E. Black Ltd. and PACES, but now, representing E.E. Black Ltd. PACES filed a complaint against Atty. Salandanan for representing conflicting interests and utilizing all the information he had acquired as a stockholder, officer, and lawyer.
ISSUE: Whether Atty. Salandanan is guilty of representing conflicting interests.
DECISION: Yes. SUSPENDED FOR 3 YEARS.
The Court agrees with the IBP’s finding that Salandanan represented conflicting interests and must be held administratively liable for the same. Conflict of interest exists when a lawyer represents inconsistent interests of two or more opposing parties. The test is whether or not on behalf of one client, it is the lawyer’s duty to fight for an issue or claim, but it is his duty to oppose it for the other client. In short, if he argues for one client, this argument will be opposed by him when he argues for the other client.
The termination of the attorney-client relationship does not justify a lawyer to represent an interest adverse to or in conflict with that of the former client. Even after the severance of the relation, a lawyer should not do anything that will injuriously affect his former client in any matter in which the lawyer previously represented the client. Nor should the lawyer disclose or use any of the client’s confidences acquired in the previous relation.
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