City of York v. Pennsylvania Public Util. Comm’n, 295 A.2d 825 (Pa. 1972)

The Attorney General’s powers of intervention,under statute and at common law, are broad. However, to allow the Attorney General to intervene as an appellant in an appeal from an order of the Public Utility Commission would create an irreconcilable conflict of interest and thus cannot be permitted

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Feeney v. Commonwealth, 366 N.E.2d 1262 (Mass. 1977)

State supreme court confirmed “[t]he authority of the attorney general as chief law officer, to assume primary control over the conduct of litigation which involves the interests of the Commonwealth.” This policy protects the interests of the state as a whole as a unitary client, rather than any one of the many potential agency manifestations…

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Connecticut Commission on Special Revenue v. Connecticut Freedom of Information Comm’n, 387 A.2d 533, 537 (Conn. 1979).

“The attorney general is in a “unique position . . . . This special status of the attorney general where the people of the state are his clients cannot be disregarded in considering the application of the code of professional responsibility to the conduct of his office.” The court refused to find that the attorney…

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Frohnmayer v. State Accident Ins. Fund, 660 P. 2d 1061 (Or. 1983)

After the attorney general brought suit to stop unauthorized hiring, the Oregon supreme court affirmed the attorney general’s position that an independent public corporation created by statute could not employ outside counsel and institute legal proceedings without his authorization

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Fund Manager Pub. Safety Personnel Retirement Sys. v. Superior Court, 731 P.2d 620, 623 (Az. 1986)

The supreme court of Arizona held that the state’s statutory scheme allows a client agency authority to decide, in some circumstances, not to accept the services of the attorney general. However, even though the attorney general may not impose restrictive supervisory conditions upon the client agency’s use of outside counsel, the supreme court concluded that…

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Hladys v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 366 S.E.2d 98 (Va. 1988)

Assistant attorneys general may represent different state agencies or parts of state agencies. Virginia Supreme Court held, the official conduct of assistant attorneys general is “entitled to a presumption of honesty and fairness no less than that accorded to acts of other public officials” and that without a showing of bias or improper conduct, impartiality…

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Commonwealth. ex rel. Cowan v. Wilkinson, 828 S.W.2d 610 (Ky. 1992)

Governor appointed himself to the board of trustees of the state university. Attorney General challenged appointment, which was upheld by the state supreme court, but attorney general’s ability to challenge the governor’s action was recognized.

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Fisher v. Iowa Board of Optometry Examiners, 510 N.W.2d 873, 877 (Iowa 1994).

the court held that the fact that an assistant attorney general advised a medical board or rulemaking and complaint issuance and also sought a rehearing in a disciplinary hearing did not give rise to a due process violation. The court said, “We fail to see how the assistant attorney general caused the board to become…

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Fordice v. Bryan, 651 So. 2d 998 (Miss. 1995),

the Mississippi attorney general has joined with state legislators to challenge the governor’s veto of appropriation bills and to seek a declaratory judgment as to the validity of a Constitutional amendment.

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Chun v. Bd. of Trustees of the Employees’ Retirement Sys., 952 P.2d 1215 (Haw. 1998)

In Hawaii, the supreme court has recognized that due to the [Attorney General’s] statutorily mandated role[s] in our legal system, we cannot mechanically apply the [Hawaii] Code of Professional Responsibility to the [Attorney General’s] office. . . . In large part, this is because . . . when the client is a governmental organization ….

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