The Attorney General, upon the request of any department, office, officer, institution, commission, committee, board, or other agency of any branch of the government of the state or any instrumentality thereof, is authorized to select and employ private counsel to perform legal services for such department, office, officer, institution, commission, committee, board, or other agency of any branch of the government of the state or any instrumentality thereof.
(Ga. L. 1971, p. 98, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1184, § 1.)
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Legislative intent concerning employment of private counsel.
- Ga. L. 1975, p. 1184, § 1 (see now O.C.G.A. § 45-15-4) when read in conjunction with the provisions of Ga. L. 1966, p. 43, § 3 (see now O.C.G.A. § 45-15-34) which unequivocally provides that the State Law Department shall have complete and exclusive authority as to legal matters pertaining to state agencies, indicates that the legislative intent was that private counsel should represent state agencies only on those rare occasions when the Attorney General deems such representation to be necessary; the use of the term "employ" in Ga. L. 1975, p. 1184, § 1 does not indicate a willingness on the part of the General Assembly to authorize a state agency to be represented by private counsel of its choice who offer to do so at no expense to the agency. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-93.
Ethical considerations in appointing private counsel.- The Attorney General may not appoint counsel to permit the Georgia Real Estate Commission to sue the Secretary of State and the Joint Secretary of the State Examining Boards in the use of current appropriations made by the General Assembly among the various licensing boards, because the appointee would be authorized to perform such services as the Attorney General deemed appropriate, and serious ethical problems would result since the Attorney General is the legal advisor to the entire executive branch of the state government and would be obligated to represent both agencies involved. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-93.
Representation of local governments by members of commission.- An attorney member of the State Ethics Commission and other members of his or her law firm may generally represent local governments so long as the representation does not involve taking an action adverse to the commission itself. 2002 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2002-4.
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 7 Am. Jur. 2d, Attorney General, §§ 6 et seq., 12 et seq.
C.J.S.- 7A C.J.S., Attorney General, §§ 4, 28.