Carla is a paralegal who has worked for the Costanza Law Firm for four months. Previously, Carla had worked at the Kramer Law Firm for seven years. While working for the Kramer Law Firm, Carla was heavily involved in many aspects of a case captioned Seinfeld v. Newman, in which the Kramer Law Firm represented Mr. Seinfeld. Yesterday, Mr. Newman met with George Costanza about hiring the Costanza Law Firm to replace his current attorneys. Jill is working in the transactional department at Costanza Law Firm and has no connection with the litigation department. If Jill is screened from and does not work on Mr. Newman’s case, can the Costanza Law Firm accept the representation of Mr. Newman?
Explanation
Answer: C - Yes, because the prohibition on imputed conflicts of interest does not apply if the person with the conflict is a nonlawyer. The general rule is that no lawyer in a firm of lawyers may represent a client if any one of the lawyers in the firm would be prohibited from doing so. Model Rule 1.10(a). But comment 1 to Rule 1.10 states that paragraph (a) “does not prohibit representation by others in the law firm where the person prohibited from involvement in a matter is a nonlawyer, such as a paralegal or a secretary.” The comment continues: “Such person, however, ordinarily must be screened from any personal participation in the matter to avoid communication to others in the firm of confidential information that both the nonlawyers and the firm have a legal duty to protect.” Answer C is the best choice because it recognizes that the imputed conflict of interest rule does not apply to non-lawyers, such as Carla, although a screen must be used. Answer A is not the best choice because it merely restates the general rule. Answer B is not correct because Mr. Newman (not Mr. Seinfeld) can waive the conflict. Answer D is not the best choice because a waiver will not be necessary since Model Rule 1.10(a) does not apply to nonlawyer staff.
