How to Run Conflict of Interest Checks at Your Law Firm

Conflict of interest: A situation where an attorney's duty to one client is materially adverse to another client's interests, or where the attorney's personal interests may impair their independent judgment on behalf of a client. Governed by Rules 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, and 1.10 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Imputed conflict: A conflict of interest that extends to all attorneys in a firm when one attorney has a conflict. Under Rule 1.10, if one lawyer in a firm is prohibited from representing a client, all lawyers in the firm are generally prohibited.

Adverse party: The opposing party in a matter. Conflict checks must include adverse parties as well as clients — representing a new client against an existing client's interests creates a direct conflict.

Why Conflict Checks Matter

A missed conflict of interest can end a career. Identifying conflicts is a core ethical obligation, and bar associations enforce it aggressively.

For small firms without dedicated compliance staff, conflict checking is often done by the attorney who is also doing the legal work, managing the firm, and handling billing. Cutting corners here is tempting and dangerous.

Step 1: Identify All Parties Involved

Start with the obvious: the potential client and the opposing party. Then expand outward. Who are the related companies? Who are the key witnesses? Who are the insurance carriers? Who are the other attorneys?

The goal is to build the most complete list possible before you search. Adding names after you have already started working on a matter creates the exact scenario conflict checks are designed to prevent.

Step 2: Search Your Conflicts Database

Your conflicts database is only as good as the data in it. Every matter your firm has ever handled, every client you have ever consulted with (even if you did not take the case), and every adverse party should be in this database.

Run every name from your party list against the full database. Look for exact matches, partial matches, and similar names. “Johnson LLC” and “Johnson Enterprises LLC” might be the same entity.

Direct name matches are the easy conflicts to catch. The dangerous ones are indirect: a prospective client’s subsidiary was adverse to your current client in a prior matter. A witness in the new case is a former client. The opposing counsel is your partner’s spouse.

These require judgment, not just database searches. But you cannot exercise judgment if you have not identified the relationship in the first place.

Step 4: Document the Results

Even when no conflict exists, document that you checked. If a conflict question arises later, your contemporaneous record of a thorough search is your best defense. Record the date, the names searched, the database used, and the result.

Step 5: Set Up Automated Future Screening

A one-time check at intake is not sufficient. Conflicts can arise mid-matter when new parties are added or when your firm takes on a new client that creates a conflict with an existing matter. Automated screening catches these situations as they develop rather than after damage is done.

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What is a conflict of interest check in legal practice?

A conflict check is a review of the firm's existing and former clients to determine whether representing a new client would create a conflict of interest under the Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 1.7 (current clients), Rule 1.9 (former clients), and Rule 1.10 (imputed conflicts) govern when conflicts must be checked and what they require.

How do law firms perform conflict checks manually?

Manual conflict checks involve searching the firm's client database for the new client's name, opposing parties, and related entities. Firms using spreadsheets or paper files search by client name. The risk of manual checks is incomplete data — especially for corporate clients with multiple related entities, subsidiaries, or principals.

When should a conflict check be performed?

A conflict check must be performed before accepting any new matter — at the intake stage, before any confidential information is shared with the prospective client. Running the check after intake is risky: if a conflict is discovered, the attorney may have obligations to the prospective client that complicate withdrawal.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if my firm misses a conflict of interest?

Consequences range from disqualification from the matter to malpractice liability to bar discipline. In serious cases, a missed conflict can lead to reversal of a court judgment, fee disgorgement, and damage to your firm's reputation. The specific rules are governed by your state's version of the Rules of Professional Conduct, typically Rules 1.7 through 1.10.

Can I use a spreadsheet for conflict checking?

You can, but it is risky. Spreadsheets do not run automated checks, do not flag partial name matches, and do not scale as your firm grows. They work for a solo attorney with a small number of matters but become unreliable quickly. Most practice management tools include conflict checking as a core feature.

How far back should my conflicts database go?

Forever. Former client conflicts do not expire. Your database should include every client, prospective client, adverse party, and related party your firm has ever encountered. This is one of the strongest arguments for using practice management software from day one rather than trying to reconstruct records later.

Do all practice management tools include conflict checking?

Most do, but the quality varies. Some only search exact name matches. Better tools search for partial matches, phonetic matches, and aliases. As of March 2026, Clio, PracticePanther, MyCase, and Smokeball all include conflict checking, but the depth of the search logic differs across products.

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