The California State Bar has solicited comment on its proposed Formal Opinion No. 17-0003 regarding duties of confidentiality to and avoidance of conflicts of interest to prospective clients. The deadline for comment is March 22, 2021. – gwc
Proposed Formal Opinion Interim No. 17-0003 [Duty to Prospective Client]
ISSUES:
1. When a prospective client has provided confidential information to an interviewing lawyer, may the interviewing lawyer disclose that information or use it to the prospective client’s disadvantage?
2. When the interviewing lawyer has received material confidential information from a prospective client, under what conditions is ethical screening available so that other lawyers in the lawyer’s law firm may represent other clients who are adverse to the prospective client in the same or substantially related matters?
3. To what extent can a prospective client give advanced informed written consent to permit other lawyers in an interviewing lawyer’s law firm to be adverse to a former prospective client in the same or substantially related matter in circumstances where the interviewing lawyer is screened from the representation but the precondition for screening in rule 1.18(d) has not been met because the interviewing lawyer did not take the “reasonable measures” required by that rule?
Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach 