When: February 24, 2020
Where: ISBA Mutual Offices, 20 S. Clark St., Ste. 800, Chicago, IL
What: Lunch and Learn: Managing and Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
A significant part of any effective screening of potential clients and new matters necessarily involves a careful conflict-check process. No final decision about retention should be made without first identifying whether a conflict exists and, if so, determining whether a conflict waiver can be used to appropriately manage the conflict.
Conflicts of interest are one of the primary causes of legal malpractice claims in Illinois. Claims may arise when checks are not undertaken or are performed ineffectively, where conflict waivers are either not used or fail to identify or explain the conflict properly, or where conflicts that arise during the course of an engagement go unaddressed.
Conflicts can generally be divided into two broad categories:
- Situations where one client’s interests are adverse to those of another client (past or present); and
- Situations where the lawyer’s own interests are inconsistent with those of the client.
Many traditional conflict of interest systems are designed to identify the first type of conflict, but not the second. The second type, however, is appearing more frequently in legal malpractice claims.
This lunch and learn was focused on helping lawyers avoid both types of conflicts, through appropriate conflict check systems and via effective conflict waivers.
Participants learned:
- How to establish a conflict of interest system
- Tips for dealing with the “Unrepresented Party”
- What to watch out for when representing multiple parties
- Conflicts to avoid at all costs
- Self-dealing conflicts of interests to avoid
- Under what circumstances a conflict may be effectively waived
Speaker:
- Jeremy N. Boeder, Partner, Tribler, Orpett & Meyer P.C.
Handouts:
Every lawyer who attended this free lunch and learn will receive 1.00 hours of approved MCLE credit, which includes 1.00 hours of professional responsibility MCLE credit. MCLE will be emailed to attendees by March 24, 2020.
This is part of a series of Lunch and Learns hosted by ISBA Mutual.