I am an attorney who has handled election cases in the past and anticipates this year to have a number of election cases where I am either challenging nominating petitions or defending nominating petitions. Normally, a candidate will ask me to challenge his or her rival petitions. The candidate will provide me with the name of a person or someone on their staff to be the petitioner who is a qualified elector. What are my obligations to the petitioner?
Election law, particularly because of the short time period to challenge petitions and to defend and have hearings, often results in lawyers sometimes being lax in their ethical responsibilities to a client. Although Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply to election law cases, the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct do apply.
