Lawyers are often asked for free legal advice. It happens at parties, at the grocery store, via email and on online forums. The inquiries come from friends and family, as well as outright strangers, but they are all potential clients. Few attorneys stop to think that each piece of legal advice casually given out presents a potential conflict of interest for his or her firm. Most internal conflict check procedures do not address or protect firms from the risks that arise out of these informal and unexpected attorney-client relationships.

Some attorneys are ignorant of the risks that can be created outside the traditional attorney-client relationship. Indeed, sometimes conflict of interest claims come from unexpected circumstances, not from situations where an attorney skirted the rules or attempted to avoid the clear application of the conflicts rules. Providing casual advice or creating attorney-client relationships outside the bounds of proper documentation can create conflicts issues. Below are the three most common circumstances from which unexpected conflicts issues materialize.

Unexpected Attorney-Client Relationships

The best practices for managing a law practice involves clearly articulated file opening procedures that include both client intake procedures and the resolution of potential conflicts of interests. The most effective practice procedures begin with one important step: properly identifying the client.

Contrary to popular belief, not every attorney-client relationship begins with a prospective client who walks in the door and asks an attorney for legal services. Instead, sometimes attorney-client relationships are implied from the facts and circumstances surrounding a pattern of communication between an attorney and someone else.