19.3Before the Legislature (Rule 3.9)

A legislator or agency official weighing testimony needs to know whether the voice is a citizen's or a paid advocate's. The same words carry different weight depending on who stands behind them. Without disclosure, the decisionmaker builds an assessment on a mistake the speaker could have corrected in a single sentence.

Appearing for a client before a legislative body or administrative agency in a non-adjudicative proceeding, the lawyer shall disclose that the appearance is in a representative capacity; the client's identity need not be disclosed.

The lawyer must act as if before a court:

1. no false evidence,
2. no false statements of law or fact,
3. no improper influence,
4. no obstruction of access to evidence.

Bilateral negotiations or other bilateral transactions with a government agency, applications for a license or other privilege, the client's compliance with generally applicable reporting requirements, and government investigations or examinations of the client's affairs all fall outside.

Context. A lawyer whose appearance is in a non-adjudicative proceeding — whether before a legislature or an administrative agency — must make the representative character of the appearance clear; the client's name isn't what has to be disclosed. Court-appearance standards travel along with the lawyer as well. Before any of that, though: is this a proceeding at all, or a negotiation, an application, a routine compliance filing, or an audit? Comment [3] names those four settings outright: a negotiation or other bilateral transaction with a governmental agency, an application for a license or other privilege, the client's compliance with generally applicable reporting requirements such as the filing of income-tax returns, and an investigation or examination of the client's affairs conducted by government investigators or examiners.