The 3M Co. has long argued that one if its former law firms, Covington & Burling, committed a “betrayal” by filing an environmental lawsuit against it on behalf of another client. Covington got some good news on Friday, when a judge refused to disqualify it from the environmental suit, a case Covington has poured years of effort into on a contingent fee basis. 3M’s lawyers are also cheering the ruling, however, seizing on a finding by the judge that Covington did, in fact, violate an ethics rule.
In a 36-page decision, Judge John McShane in Hennepin County, Minnesota, ruled that the environmental case is “substantially similar” to earlier regulatory work Covington did for 3M. Based on that finding, the judge ruled that Covington had a conflict of interest and violated an ethics rule relating to duties owed to former clients.
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