If you’re teaching conflicts or competence at the moment here are a couple of scenarios to explore, ripped from the headlines over the past week:

• A recent NYT Deal Book column explores the complications and conflicts associated with a marriage between Mary Jo White as she leads the Securities Exchange Commission and her husband John White as he practices law at Cravath, Swaine and Moore. Apparently she’s had to recuse herself from at least 10 investigations involving Cravath representations in addition to cases involving her former firm Debevoise & Plimpton.

• Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email address for official government business during her time as Secretary of State raises questions about conflicts and security risks. The Legal Ethics Forum blog questions whether this runs afoul of Model Rule 1.1’s duty of competence, which requires in Comment 6 an obligation to be mindful of “the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.”