Clinics and Conflicts? No Problem!

  • Rule 4-6.6 governs lawyers providing short-term legal services through a program sponsored by a nonprofit organization, court, government agency, bar association or an American Bar Association-accredited law school.
  • Lawyers operating under such a program:
    • Provide services without expectation that the representation will continue further;
    • Are subject to conflict rules regarding current and former clients only if they know of the conflict;
    • Are subject to rules governing the imputation of conflicts only when they know that a lawyer in the same firm is disqualified from the matter;
    • Will not preclude their firms from representing a client adverse to the pro bono client; and
    • Need not obtain a client’s written consent to short-term representation; spoken will do.