The narrow circumstances in which a firm may act despite a client-client conflict, and the conditions and safeguards that must hold for the entire retainer.
An own interest conflict is an absolute bar, but a client-client conflict is not always fatal — and knowing where the line falls is what this chapter is for. It begins by distinguishing the two types of conflict and introducing the exceptions that may permit a firm to act, then works through the three cumulative conditions of informed consent, effective safeguards and reasonableness that both exceptions demand. It examines the substantially common interest and competing for the same objective exceptions in detail, before turning to information barriers, the continuing duty to monitor whether the clients' interests have diverged, and what ceasing to act actually requires. It closes with limited retainers and the conveyancing contexts — buyer and seller, borrower and lender — where these rules are tested most often.
