No. 04-03 - Tape Recording Witness Without Third Party Present -- Not Unethical

Whether it violates Alabama Rule of Professional Conduct 3.7(a) for a sole practitioner to tape record a statement from a witness without having a third person present. The prosecutor seeks a hearing to disqualify counsel because the prosecutor intends to call defense counsel as a witness about the statement, apparently no matter what the statement says or whether there is a bona fide issue of voluntariness of the statement.