This week, the Arizona State Bar lambasted Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre in response to a complaint filed against him for breaching his duty to his clients, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors.
The complaint was filed against McIntyre by former Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller.
Miller filed the complaint on behalf of Supervisors across the state who, like her, have found themselves confronting ethical lapses by county attorneys who “seem to cave to political pressures, not principles.”
Miller had urged the State Bar to investigate a potential breach of McIntyre’s attorney-client privilege with the Cochise County Board of Supervisors.
Based on its investigation, the Bar strongly suggested McIntyre take a course on client confidentiality.
The Bar also admonished McIntyre, advising him that he should have stated his concerns about his clients’ proposed course of action in executive session, not in public.
The Bar also criticized McIntyre, saying that he should not have released so much confidential information about his client.
The Bar instructed McIntyre to seek the advice of ethics counsel when making such decisions in the future.
Attorneys were shocked to find that despite the admonishment, the Bar stopped short of administering formal discipline. Some speculate that since McIntyre made headlines last year for getting arrested for drunk driving, the Bar is treating him with kid gloves.
“His fucking law license should have been suspended,” one attorney told the Arizona Daily Independent on condition of anonymity. “Anyone else but a drunk or political crony would have been suspended for 6 months and a day for what he did to the people that trusted him.
“No wonder he failed to secure a spot on the Republican Primary ballot,” said one Cochise County politico.
In her complaint, Miller alleged that McIntyre breached his obligation to the Supervisors on two occasions. The first came when he publicly revealed privileged advice that he provided in executive session. The second occurred when he provided such advice to opposing counsel in civil litigation against the Board of Supervisors.
