The Wisconsin Supreme Court on whether engaging in a three-way with a client and her girlfriend violates an ethical rule against having sexual relations with a client:
The definition of sexual relations in SCR 20:1.8(k)(1) connotes conduct directly between the lawyer and the client. When the definition refers to touching, the rule speaks of the lawyer intentionally touching the intimate parts of “a person,” but the subsequent alternative definitional phrase uses the more definitive “the person” when referring to a situation in which the lawyer causes the touching to be done to him/her. In addition, to the extent that sexual intercourse also qualifies as “sexual relations” under the definition, such conduct is likewise done intentionally (i.e., not by accident).
Further, SCR 20:1.8(k)(2) prohibits a lawyer from having “sexual relations” “with a current client.” Thus, the definitional language of SCR 20:1.8(k)(1) and the prohibition of SCR 20:1.8(k)(2) together clearly indicate that the prohibited “sexual relations,” whether intercourse or touching, must be intentionally done between the lawyer and one particular person, namely the client…. [B]ecause it does not appear that the definitional elements of “sexual relations” have been satisfied, the simple term “with” in the prohibitional phrase in SCR 20:1.8(k)(2) cannot transform this situation into a violation of the rule.
Heh. Only lawyers could parse definition like this.
H/T: Eugene Volokh and Instapundit (who predicts this will lead to an increase in law school applications — I predict an increase in applications to take the Wisconsin Bar Exam)
