Effective January 2013, amendments to the Connecticut Practice Book will change the process for addressing conflict of interest issues that arise when an attorney changes employment, going from a firm that represented one party in a case to another firm representing an opposing party.
As explained in a Connecticut Law Tribune article, the new rules will establish a procedure that allows the attorney to promise to stay away from the case, without the entire firm being disqualified.
According to the article, when this situation arises now, the attorney’s former firm often asks the court to have the new firm removed from the case due to the potential conflict of interest. Although judges grant such requests rarely, the possibility of a conflict could impact hiring decisions.
The article has more details on the amendments, how they relate to existing practice, and different opinions on the new procedure.
