When Lisa Perrochet appealed Kirk v. First American Title to the Second District Court of Appeal last year, interest was extremely high. Two dozen large law firms, looking for a court rule that would allow ethical walls for avoiding conflicts of interest, joined as amici curiae. The Second District justices seemed interested, too, providing three hours for argument.
The dispute concerned whether a trial judge had legitimately disqualified Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in litigation over a lengthy and expensive class action. First American had paid the Sonnenschein attorneys more than $5 million, but another lawyer at the firm had once held a 17-minute phone call with plaintiffs’ counsel in which plaintiffs’ counsel shared confidential information about the case.
