Elizabeth is a new employee at a firm, and is assigned a personal injury file to work on. She notices that the defendant in the case was a client of the firm where she was previously employed. She worked on a similar case, and knows that the client was intoxicated at the time of the prior incident. What should Elizabeth do? Can she share this information with her new firm? Will the new firm be able to represent the client in the new case? What steps should the firm take?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Elizabeth should let the supervising attorney know that she has a conflict of interest. She has an ongoing duty of loyalty to the former firm’s client to not use confidential information to the detriment of the client. She must not share any other information with her current employer. The firm can continue to represent the client in this case, but must take immediate steps to erect an ethical wall or screen between the file and Elizabeth that will prevent her from working on, having access to documents, or participating in any discussions or conferences related to the case. A Motion to Disqualify may be filed in court by opposing counsel. In order to avoid disqualification, the lawyer with the employee in question would prepare an affidavit to attach to the objection to disqualification. The affidavit would detail how the ethical wall is in place, including but not limited to the date, process and measures utilized to prevent the restricted employee from having access to the matter in question.