In People v. Zimmer (51 NY2d 390 [1980]), the Court of Appeals held that the District Attorney should have been disqualified where he was counsel to, and a shareholder in, a corporation in the course of whose management the defendant was alleged to have committed the crimes charged. While there was no showing of actual prejudice, the conflict in this situation was readily apparent. The District Attorney had a financial interest in the corporation and, as counsel to the corporation, was its spokesperson in legal matters. There was, to put it plainly, a conflict between the role of a corporate attorney, representing one side of a controversy, and the role of the District Attorney. "No matter the good faith and complete integrity of the District Attorney, under these circumstances what impression could the defendant have had of the fairness of a prosecution instituted by one with the personal and financial attachments of this prosecutor?" (People v. Zimmer, 51 NY2d at 395).