Attorney Conflict of Interest and Possible Consequences
My attorney, whom I have not had contact or dealings with for about a year, represented me in a family law case.
Today, I received a filing against me from my ex-wife, who is being represented by the same attorney. I never "dismissed" the attorney, if that's even possible The case ended, I won, and that was that.
He has never represented the ex-wife in any past dealings of any kind and once told her that he couldn't represent her because it would be a conflict of interest. Now, suddenly, he is representing her.
I have spoken to three other attorneys who all seemed stunned, asking "What is he thinking? He can't do that!"
So I resort to Arfcom experts for the final word: Is he legally able to represent her? Aside from his alcoholism, I can't figure out why he would even want to try this (money?). What says the hive?
He shouldn't be representing her. Have you contacted him about the conflict? It is possible that he just made a mistake when he conducted his conflict check and didn't realize there was a conflict. If you have notified him of the conflict and he still insists on representing her that is completely improper, in my opinion, and he shouldn't be able to represent her.
As an aside, you're probably better off not using an attorney who is an alcoholic.
Agreed. I'm not using him and have no intention to going forward. However, I plan to make a motion to have him thrown off the case.
