Run a law firm conflict check before the retainer goes out. A single new matter can name two other people and a company the firm has already met. The check searches the firm's records for every name involved, to see whether anyone on the matter clashes with a current, former or prospective client.
Lawyers decide what the results mean. This guide gives a six-step process with an owner and a "done when" test for each step, plus a table for sorting matches. It also covers immigration matters, where one file often brings several people together, and ends with a record template.
States adopt their own versions of the ABA Model Rules cited here, so confirm the wording with your bar.
Key Takeaways
- A conflict check searches the firm's records before a matter is accepted, and a lawyer decides what any match means.
- ABA Model Rules 1.7, 1.9, 1.18 and 1.10 cover current, former and prospective clients and the whole firm.
- Run the check when an inquiry arrives, before the retainer, when a new party joins and when a lawyer joins.
- Six steps take a check from the party list to a dated record, with staff running the search and an attorney making the decision.
- Immigration files add parties such as the petitioner, the beneficiary, the employer, derivative family members and whoever pays the fee.
What Is a Law Firm Conflict Check?
A law firm conflict check is a search of the firm's records, run before a matter is accepted. It shows whether the people involved clash with current, former or prospective clients. The firm searches every name tied to the matter, and a lawyer then decides what any match means.
Some firms call this a conflict of interest check, and the two names describe the same search. The check supports the lawyer's duties under ABA Model Rule 1.7 and the related rules in the next section.
Skipping the check lets a conflict surface only after the client has relied on the firm. Rule 1.7(a) says a lawyer shall not represent a client when the representation involves a concurrent conflict, except as paragraph (b) allows. The firm can act on a conflict only once it has found it.
Which Conflicts Is the Check Looking for?
Conflicts fall into four groups, and each group ties to its own ABA Model Rule. Each rule below is stated in plain terms from the ABA model text, checked against the ABA's published rules on November 10, 2026.
Common Conflict Situations in Any Practice Area
Those four rules show up in a few recurring situations, whatever the practice area:
- Two clients in one matter, such as spouses, business partners or co-parties
- A former client who is now on the other side
- A person who consulted the firm and whose opposing party later hires it
- A client whose parent or affiliate company is on the other side
- A new party added to an open matter
An attorney conflict check comes before work continues in every one of these, and none has a default answer.
When Should a Firm Run a Conflict Check?
Knowing what to look for, the next question is when to look. The conflict check procedure should name four trigger points, in this order:
- Run it when an inquiry arrives, since Rule 1.18 can apply to a person who consults the firm and never hires it.
- Run it again before the retainer goes out, once the full list of parties is known. The law firm client onboarding checklist places the check at the same point.
- Run it when a new party joins an open matter, such as a spouse or a related company added later.
- Run it when a lawyer or paralegal joins the firm. Under Rule 1.10, a new lawyer's work at a prior firm can create a conflict for the whole firm.
Mergers and purchased files also change the records being searched, so repeat the search on open matters.
What Information Should a Conflict Check Search?
Every trigger starts a search, and the search is only as good as the list of names fed into it. Intake therefore has to collect more than the caller's name. The table shows the fields to gather and which ones apply to immigration matters.
Name variants deserve their own pass. A name written in another alphabet can reach English in several spellings. The order of given and family names can also differ between a passport, a civil record and an old file. Search every variant the intake shows. Near the end of this guide, the conflict check form has a line for each one.
How to Run a Conflict Check, Step by Step
With the triggers and the search fields set, the conflict check process takes six steps. Staff run the first three, and an attorney decides in step four. That split follows ABA Model Rule 5.3, which asks supervising lawyers to make reasonable efforts to keep nonlawyer conduct compatible with the lawyer's obligations.
Build the Party List
Write down every person and company named in the inquiry, with each name variant the intake shows. Add the opposing party, related companies and anyone who will sign or pay.
Front-office staff or a paralegal owns this step, and it is done when every name is on the list with its variants.
Search the Firm's Records
Compare the list against current clients, former clients, prospective clients, opposing parties and related companies. Search every variant, and save the result with its date.
Searching belongs to a paralegal, and the step is done when all five groups were searched and the saved result is in the file.
Sort the Matches
Mark each match as the same person, a different person or unknown. A shared surname alone does not make a match, and an unknown stays open until someone checks a date of birth or an address.
Sorting also falls to the paralegal. It is done when every match carries a mark.
Let the Attorney Decide
Give the attorney the sorted matches with the file notes behind each one. The attorney decides whether the matter is clear, clear with consent, declined or paused, and writes the decision down. Each outcome is covered in the next section.
Deciding belongs to the attorney, and the step is done when the decision sits in the file with the attorney's name.
Act on the Decision
Send the document that matches the decision: the engagement letter, the written consents or a non-engagement letter. AI Retainer drafts the engagement letter from intake data once the check has cleared.
Staff send the letters after the attorney decides, and the step is done when the document has gone out.
Record the Check
Save one record per check. The template near the end of this guide lists the fields.
Record keeping falls to a paralegal, and the step is done when the record is complete.
What to Do When the Check Finds a Match
Matches end four ways, and each ending points to a next action.
Written consent is sometimes called a conflict waiver. Under Rule 1.7(b), a lawyer may represent a client despite a concurrent conflict only if all four conditions hold:
- The lawyer reasonably believes the firm can provide competent and diligent representation to each affected client.
- The representation is not prohibited by law.
- The representation does not involve one client asserting a claim against another client in the same proceeding before a tribunal.
- Each affected client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing.
ABA Model Rule 1.0 defines informed consent as agreement to a proposed course of conduct. The lawyer must first communicate adequate information about the material risks and the reasonably available alternatives. This section describes a process. Whether a given conflict can be waived is a legal judgment for the firm's attorney under the state's rules.
What Should a Non-Engagement Letter Say?
One outcome, a decline, ends with a non-engagement letter, and so does any prospective client who never retains the firm. The letter tells the person in writing that the firm is not taking the matter, so no one assumes otherwise. It should do four things:
- State that the firm is not representing the person on the matter.
- Advise the person to look for other counsel promptly.
- Warn that filing deadlines or limitation periods may keep running.
- Confirm that the firm keeps confidential what the person shared, consistent with Rule 1.18(b).
On the day of the decision, send the letter and keep a copy with the check record. An attorney should approve the wording for your state.
Lateral Hires and Screening
Hiring a lawyer is the fourth trigger point and needs a check of its own. A new lawyer brings knowledge of clients from a prior employer. Compare the candidate's prior matters with the firm's current and former clients before the start date. Ask the attorney reviewer how much a candidate may disclose.
Under Rule 1.10(a)(2), a conflict from a lawyer's prior firm does not bar the rest of the new firm if three things happen:
- The disqualified lawyer is timely screened from the matter and apportioned no part of the fee.
- The affected former client gets prompt written notice, including a description of the screening procedures.
- The former client receives certifications of compliance on written request.
State versions of the rule differ, so the attorney checks the state's text before relying on screening.
Conflict Checks for Immigration Matters
The steps above work in every practice area. Immigration matters bring several people into one file, so a party list built for a single client can miss someone. That holds for firms that already handle immigration and for firms adding it. An immigration law firm conflict check starts by asking who else is on the file.
These rows are prompts for the attorney to weigh. Whether one lawyer can act for both sides of a petition depends on the facts and on the state's rules.
Manual Search, Spreadsheet or Software?
Once the process is written down, the next question is what runs the search. Three approaches are common: a spreadsheet of past clients and parties, a standalone conflict tool, and practice management software with a built-in conflict search. A conflict checking system of any kind should do six things:
- Search across clients, prospective clients and opposing parties
- Search every system that holds client records, since a match missing from one system is still a match
- Handle name variants, including partial names and different spellings
- Save a dated result
- Control who can see the results
- Connect to intake data
A spreadsheet can work for a small firm if it holds name variants and keeps a dated copy of each search. Whichever tool runs the search, capture party names once, at the first inquiry. Client intake that records party details as structured data gives the search clean input.
Common Conflict Check Mistakes
Each mistake below traces to a step above, and the fix is that step done in order.
- Running the check from memory relies on one person's recall, so it misses clients that person never worked with.
- Searching only the main spelling of a name misses the same person recorded under another spelling.
- Searching only current clients skips the former and prospective clients covered by Rules 1.9 and 1.18.
- Skipping the check when a spouse or child is added later lets a new party join a matter nobody searched.
- Running the check after the retainer goes out can force the firm to end an engagement the client has already relied on.
- Keeping no record leaves the firm unable to show that the check ran or what it covered.
Writing a Conflict Check Policy for Your Firm
Six mistakes share one fix, a written policy that staff follow every time. Keep it to one page that covers four points:
- Who runs the search and who decides, named by role
- The four trigger points
- The party list fields and the record fields
- Where the records are stored and who can see them
Train every person who takes an inquiry, and repeat the training when the policy changes. Audit a sample of closed files on a set schedule, such as each quarter, against the record template below. The step that fails most often is the one to fix first.
Conflict Check Record Template
Step six produces one record per check, and the table lists its fields so any file can be audited against it. Copy it into a document or your practice management system, and have an attorney adapt this conflict check form to your state's rules.
Grow Your Caseload With US Immigration AI
If your firm handles immigration matters or is adding them, a conflict check starts with a clean list of parties. US Immigration AI is AI-powered immigration case management software for licensed immigration law firms. Its AI Intake records answers as structured data and hands the attorney an organized summary. Schedule a demo to see it.
Frequently Asked Questions
