Attorney Conflict of Interest

I don't see any conflict here.

I don't see a conflict of interest if the homeowner's attorney only drafted the CC&Rs and did not do any other work for the association. But I agree opposing counsel should be alerted (homeowner's attorney is going to be unusually well informed).

Short answer: By my reading of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct (for attorneys, and which have the force of statute), yes, it is a conflict of interest. But I tend to think the HOA board should not pursue this.

Long answer:
In my opinion, the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct require (or IMO strongly urge that) the owner's attorney to obtain the "informed consent" "in writing" of the HOA before representing the owner. See Rule 1.9 at https://www.gabar.org/barrules/georgia-rules-of-professional-conduct.cfm . See also Rule 1.7 and Rule 1.8.

Count on it: The owner's attorney will make an argument that there is no conflict of interest. It is indeed a matter of interpretation of several phrases in the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Options:

The HOA can object; inform the owner's attorney that he/she must withdraw from representing the client, or he/she will face a complaint with the bar (which is taxing); et cetera. But the most this will yield is more billable hours for the HOA attorney and that the owner gets a new attorney.

The Board should ask the HOA attorney whether to raise this issue. Ten bucks says the HOA attorney will say something like, "I will bring it to the owner's attorney's attention. But otherwise, I advise not pursuing this. It will cost the HOA money; delay things; and without changing the arguments that ultimately will happen in court. Pursuing this might also annoy the judge."

The HOA is represented by an attorney and they should discuss their concerns with him/her. If there is a conflict, it is the HOA attorneys responsibility to address it.

A court should only consider the facts of the case and what is written in the declaration. It could be problematic in court if the owners attorney attempts to argue he prepared the document and the court should accept his intent / interpretation. There are tactical remedies for this.

Was the HOA corporation this attorney's client back when the declaration was being written?

Dunno. I believe a HOA corporation can exist (by filing Articles of Incorporation et cetera) independent of the Declaration.

For fun: Over a dozen years ago, I saw a judge disqualify himself from an owner v. HOA dispute because the judge said, at the very first hearing, he had helped write the HOA's Declaration.

Granted a judge's ethical obligations are likely somewhat different from those of the attorney in this thread.

The whole subject is likely academic here. Because I (for one) do not see a good justification to start a dispute about the attorney possibly having a conflict of interest. So far I see only disadvantages to starting such a dispute.