Also known as: nonadjudicative proceedings · non-adjudicative proceeding · non-adjudicative proceedings
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A governmental hearing or session conducted before a legislative body or administrative agency that does not decide contested legal rights of specific parties. The setting requires a lawyer appearing for a client to disclose the representative capacity and to follow specified duties of candor, fairness, and impartiality.
Nora Nash, counsel for National Trust, spoke at a city council budget hearing to support continued grant money for the trust's education programs. She introduced herself only as a longtime volunteer and let council members believe she had no financial connection to the trust. The council approved the funding after her remarks. The failure to identify her role as paid counsel violated the disclosure duty that applies in this nonadjudicative setting.
Nikhil Narayan, outside counsel for Nordic Ventures, appeared at a state environmental council hearing on landfill expansion. He presented only favorable groundwater readings and withheld an appendix showing higher contamination levels while allowing members to assume he spoke as an independent expert. The council relied on the incomplete report when weighing the application. The combination of nondisclosure and selective presentation breached the candor obligations that govern the proceeding.
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The lawyer must state that the appearance is in a representative capacity. This alerts decision makers that the speaker advocates for a private client rather than offering neutral views. Failure to make the disclosure subjects the lawyer to discipline even when the substantive statements are accurate.
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No. The lawyer must still comply with the candor, fairness, and impartiality rules incorporated from the adjudicative context. Selective presentation of data or omission of known contrary information violates those duties even in an informal policy hearing.
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No. The rule requires an affirmative and contemporaneous disclosure during the proceeding itself. Earlier informal contacts or embedded references to the client do not cure an initial misleading introduction or silence about the representative role.
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No. The disclosure obligation is independent of the accuracy of the statements made. Allowing decision makers to assume the lawyer is a volunteer or independent expert violates the rule regardless of whether the content presented is factually correct.
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