Rule 6.3.Membership in Legal Services 
 Organization 
 A lawyer may serve as a director, officer or member of a legal 
 services organization, apart from the law firm in which the lawyer 
 practices, notwithstanding that lawyers provided by the organization 
 serve persons having interests adverse to a client of the lawyer.  The 
 lawyer shall not knowingly participate in a decision or action of the 
 organization: 
  
 (a)if participating in the decision or action would be 
 incompatible with the lawyer's obligations to a client under Rule 1.7; 
 or 
  
 (b)where the decision or action could have a material adverse 
 effect on the representation of a client of a lawyer provided by the 
 organization whose interests are adverse to a client of the lawyer. 
  
 

                                                                
ANNOTATIONSCOMMENT 
 Lawyers should be encouraged to support and participate in legal 
 service organizations.  A lawyer who is an officer or a member of such 
 an organization does not thereby have a client-lawyer relationship with 
 persons 
 served by the organization.  However, there is potential conflict between the 
 interests of such persons and the interests of the lawyer's clients.  If the 
 possibility of such conflict disqualified a lawyer from serving on the board 
 of a legal services organization, the profession's involvement in such 
 organizations would be severely curtailed. 
  
 It may be necessary in appropriate cases to reassure a client of a 
 lawyer provided by the organization that the representation will not be 
 affected by conflicting loyalties of a member of the board. 
 Established, written policies in this respect can enhance the 
 credibility of such assurances. 
  
 COMMITTEE COMMENT 
 Rule 6.3 is a clearer expression of some of the principles 
 currently contained in Ethical Consideration 2-33 (now incorporated into 
 the Comment under Rule 5.4) and DR 5-101(A).  The language--  "a lawyer 
 provided by" -- has been added to the ABA Model simply to make clear what 
 otherwise has to be presumed, i.e., that it is the staff attorneys of 
 the organization who provide the legal services to the clients who have 
 come to the organization for assistance. 
  
  
  
 ANNOTATION 
  
 Annotator's note. 
 Rule 6.3 is similar to 
 DR 5-101 as it 
 existed prior to the 1992 repeal and reenactment of the Code of 
 Professional Responsibility. 
 Relevant cases construing 
 that provision have 
 been included in the annotations to Rule 1.7.