GUIDELINES FOR AVOIDING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The work you do as a legal intern, extern, paralegal or law clerk may affect what matters you may handle as an attorney. Your exposure to client matters and confidential information could raise conflicts questions for you and others with whom you work after you are licensed.

Amendments to The Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct clarify how to analyze and handle potential conflicts stemming from exposure prior to becoming an attorney. Here is a link for the amendments: "Texas Supreme Court Order Amending Comments to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure 3 22 2016"

You may be asked by your employer to provide a list of matters you worked on before being licensed as a lawyer. This list will enable the employer to determine if you need to be screened from participation in any matters. While in law school, you should keep track of the following information for matters on which you work as a clerk, intern, extern, or paralegal: the name of the client and a short description of the matter on which you worked (or on which you acquired confidential information). You should not rely on your employer or supervisor to prepare or provide this list for you.

Before you leave a position, it would be helpful for you to share your list with the attorney who has supervised your work. Here is a link for a conflicts spreadsheet that you can use to record your work as a nonlawyer:  Conflicts Spreadsheet – please note tabs for Instructions, Example Worksheet, and Conflicts Worksheet.