Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Maryland

Re: A Lawyers legal and ethical professional responsibility

Yes, it's potentially a problem because social workers are mandatory reporters on abuse issues, which conflicts with the lawyer-client privilege.

Re: A Lawyers legal and ethical professional responsibility

Yes this is a conflict of interest for several reasons. Most noteable are:

an attorney cannot advocate and present evidence at the same time thus he cannot be your attorney and

be the person who attests to the emotional health and welfare of the children, social workers are required to report

abuse and he cannot fulfill this requirement while complying with the requirements of confidentiality, if he works with the other parent as

a social worker then he may potentially compromise the requirement of zealous advocacy, and other reasons. You should explain this to him and seek another attorney.

If you are pleased with him as a social worker, there may be no problem with retaining him only as a social worker.