Conflict of Interest

109 N.J.L.J. 294
April 8, 1982
 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
 
Appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court
 

OPINION 492

Conflict of Interest
School Board Attorney's Wife a Teacher

The possible conflict posed by this inquiry is one that has been dealt with in other opinions but not in precisely this factual situation. The inquirer states that he is counsel for a board of education; that his wife has received a temporary appointment as a teacher in that system and that there is a possibility she may continue to teach there in the future. The school budget for the district was recently defeated by the voters and he questions whether, if the budget is required to go to court to be heard by an Administrative Law Judge, and perhaps ultimately by the Commissioner of Education, his support of the budget, which obviously contains salary provisions, will represent a conflict of interest since his wife will be paid out of that budget?
In Opinion 318, 93 N.J.L.J. 823 (1975), we held that the wife of an assistant county counsel who was appointed to the board of freeholders of the county and was a candidate for re-election, did not create a conflict requiring the resignation of the husband as assistant county counsel, citing numerous prior decisions. The possible conflict situation here is even more remote than that and there seems to be little likelihood of any direct conflict.

For a distinction between this case and one where we found a definite conflict in a husband and wife relationship, see our Opinion 418, 103 N.J.L.J. 173 (1979). Cf. Opinion 432, 104 N.J.L.J. 204 (1979).
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