Exam 4: Conflicts of Interestthe Duty of Loyalty

Denny Driver has an insurance policy for his car that is like everyone else's insurance policy. It provides that if he is sued as a result of a car accident, the insurance company will provide a lawyer for his defense. Although common, this policy

While at Scott & French, Paralegal Nancy worked as part of the litigation team representing the plaintiff in Big Corp. vs. Little Corp. When Nancy leaves Scott & French to accept a job with William & Marks, she learns that her new employer is contemplating representing Big Corp. in a merger with Medium Corp. Nancy

Paralegal Denny has worked for law firm Johnson & Smith for 5 years in their real estate department. When he leaves J&S to take a job in the litigation department of Beck & Hein, Denny

After working on the defense side of asbestos litigation for many years, Paralegal Kawika decides he wants to work for a small firm and branch out away from asbestos into real estate or family law. Kawika sends out some resumes and gets a call from a law firm that does primarily real estate and family law but does represent some asbestos plaintiffs. Kawika should

Paralegal Patty has been working in the corporate department of the law firm of Tan & Lee for several years. Her job includes attending board meetings for some of the corporations, writing corporate minutes, and keeping the corporate minute books up to date. Over the years, she has come to know many of the corporate officers very well. When one of these officers asks Patty to change some of the facts in one set of corporate minutes, Patty should

Jody and Sam have agreed to end their marriage amicably. They have worked out all of the details of who will get what assets and how their money will be divided. In order to save money, they want to hire one lawyer to write up their agreement. Larry Lawyer

While at the district attorney's office, Paralegal Fritz worked on the prosecution of thousands of cases. Fritz feels trapped in that job. Even though he would like to move into the defense side for a law firm where he could find higher salaries, he's staying put because he knows that he would raise conflict issues at all of the local firms. As Fritz's friend, you

Bill and Jan want to document a small transaction. Bill is going to sell and Jan is going to buy Bill's coffee shop. Bill and Jan go to the Law Offices of Larry Lawyer to draw up this contract. Larry should:

Paralegal Timothy works for a sole practitioner whose primary practice is wills and trusts. As a result, Timothy spends a great deal of his time with elderly people. Timothy is a sweet and helpful boy. He runs errands for many clients, and helps them in many other ways. As a result, more than one client has offered to leave Timothy money in his/her will. Timothy

Paralegal Cheri worked on the defense of Client Joe Thames. As part of that matter, Cheri worked on restructuring Joe's finances, creating trust funds for his children, and moving some of his money to off-shore accounts. When Cheri moved to the Gnew Law Firm, she participated in Gnew's standard conflict check and discovered no potential conflicts. Some months later, Gnew took on a new collection matter from Bank of West Virginia: Bank v. Joe Thames. Cheri has not been assigned to the case and, in fact, doesn't even work on the same floor as the collection team at Gnew. What is Cheri's obligation?