In other words, is hypocrisy a frowned upon or even a disciplinary matter? Suppose a lawyer has two clients and the circumstances don't warrant a "conflict of interest" problem under the rules of professional conduct. The two clients aren't doing anything related to one another, but on just one question of law it is helpful for one client to argue one way on the question and helpful for the other client to argue the other way on the question.
If a judge or anyone else sees a lawyer trying to have it both ways, is that a problem?
If this is an impossible situation such that this is, by definition, a conflict of interest, imagine the two clients waived the conflict of interest so that the lawyer could represent both of them.
Imagine this sort of dialogue.
- Tuesday
Lawyer: "Your honor I really think that statutory definition of a week means the time starting from the Monday after the action took place to the Friday following that Monday. Here is the case law on that matter."
- Wednesday
Lawyer: "Your honor I really think that the statutory definition of a week means from the time the action took place until 7 days following that time. Here is the case law on that matter."
Judge: "Hey, just yesterday you said you thought the statutory definition of a week meant something else when you were representing another client. You sound like a hypocrite to me."