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Conflicts of interest in law firms and law department concerns

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This blawg has a number of posts on conflicts of interest (See my posts of May 1, 2005 (5) on Freivogel and conflicts; May 31, 2005 on principles for law departments.), so I thought I would collect them in one meta-post.

Entries have discussed specific applications (See my posts of Aug. 16, 2006 on sharing work product with law firms; May 21, 2006 on preemption of competitors by hiring firms; July 25, 2005 on independent counsel retained by boards of directors; Dec. 18, 2006 on law firm engagement letters and assumptions of prospective waivers; July 17, 2005 on a general counsel who was also a partner in the company’s primary law firm; and Aug. 5, 2006 on similar conflicts regarding outside law firms that serve as general counsel.).

Firing a law firm for conflicts of interest has prompted entries (See my posts of Feb. 11, 2007 which disagrees with this position; but May 8, 2007 for French law departments citing that reason.). The steroidal growth of law firms may engender conflicts (See my posts of Nov. 13, 2005; Nov. 26, 2006; April 2, 2005; as well as March 24, 2007 on the effects of law firm mergers on conflicts; May 30, 2005 on conflicts policies of law firms; and Oct. 23, 2005 on the frequency of disabling conflicts.).

Outside the US different standards apply to conflicts of interest (See my posts of Nov. 19, 2005 generally; Nov. 9, 2005 regarding UK law firms; and June 9, 2007 on the failure of UK panels.).