Chamber to State AGs: Behave Yourselves
Corporate Counsel
January 30, 2008
By Sherry Karabin
State attorneys general, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes, have long targeted businesses with improper investigations and unfair litigation. Now the Chamber, the leading advocacy group for corporate America, has proposed a code of ethics for AGs. Not surprisingly, few attorneys general think the suggested guidelines are just friendly advice.
The Institute for Legal Reform, an affiliate of the Washington, D.C.-based Chamber, unveiled its code last fall. The "Recommended Best Practices for Initiating and Conducting Investigations and Litigation" covers a variety of dos and don'ts. Among other issues, the ILR weighs in on when attorneys general should use outside law firms, whether they ought to participate in multistate litigation, and how they can handle conflicts of interest and impartiality issues.
