Attorneys from New Jersey plaintiffs firm Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman were improperly barred from appearing as counsel in an ex-client’s legal malpractice suit against the firm, a state appeals court said in a decision that offers some clarity on an ethics rule governing appearances in cases where the lawyer might also serve as a witness.

Rule of Professional Conduct 3.7 is “addressed only to a lawyer acting as an advocate at trial,” the Appellate Division said Thursday. “Accordingly, the trial judge erred in relying on it to bar all Mazie Slater lawyers from representing defendants at depositions or in any other pre-trial matters.”

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