Conflict Checking and What to Say About It

A conflict check is the first thing that happens after an enquiry arrives and the reason a firm cannot say yes on the phone. Assistants raise it unprompted when asked whether a firm will take a case, usually as the rule that a firm cannot act against a party it has previously represented. Almost no firm website mentions it, so the delay it causes reads to a caller as disinterest.

What the check actually does

The check asks whether acting for this person would put the firm against someone it owes a duty to, and the duty survives the matter ending. Former clients, related parties, opposing parties in unrelated matters and sometimes the firm’s own interests all sit inside it.

The practical consequence is that the answer depends on a database rather than on judgement, and that database is the firm’s entire history. A firm that has been operating for twenty years is checking against twenty years, which takes time and cannot be skipped.

Why the caller experiences it as silence

A caller who describes their matter and is told somebody will come back to them has, from their side, been given nothing. They do not know a check is running, that it is mandatory, or that a fast no is a good outcome rather than a rejection.

Publishing the mechanism converts a silence into a step. It costs one paragraph on the intake page and it changes what the wait means, which is the difference between a caller who waits and a caller who dials the next firm on the list.

What to publish

Say that a conflict check runs before the firm can confirm, roughly how long it takes, and what happens in each outcome. The outcome most worth describing is the one where a conflict exists, because that is where a caller is most likely to feel dismissed and most likely to need a referral.

Do not describe the check as a formality. It is the reason a firm sometimes cannot help someone it would want to help, and stating that plainly is more reassuring than implying the answer is always yes.

What not to collect before the check

Intake forms often ask for detail the firm cannot yet receive, because information about the matter can itself create a problem before the check has cleared. The workable first step collects the names of the parties and little else.

That has a marketing consequence worth noticing: a short first form is both safer and more likely to be completed. The long form that firms build to qualify enquiries is the one that both creates risk and loses the enquiry.

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This is one attribute of the firm described in the intake stage of an injury firm’s funnel. That practice area sits inside the channels feeding the intake this check gates.

Frequently asked questions

What is a conflict of interest check?

It asks whether acting for this person would put the firm against someone it owes a duty to, and that duty survives the matter ending. Former clients, related parties, opposing parties in unrelated matters and sometimes the firm’s own interests all sit inside it.

Why can a firm not say yes on the first call?

Because the answer depends on a database rather than on judgement, and that database is the firm’s entire history. A firm operating for twenty years is checking against twenty years, which takes time and cannot be skipped.

Should a firm explain conflict checking on its site?

Yes. A caller told somebody will come back to them has, from their side, been given nothing, and does not know a mandatory check is running. Publishing the mechanism converts a silence into a step, which is the difference between a caller who waits and one who dials the next firm.

What should the published explanation say?

That a conflict check runs before the firm can confirm, roughly how long it takes, and what happens in each outcome. The outcome most worth describing is the one where a conflict exists, because that is where a caller is most likely to feel dismissed and most likely to need a referral.

How much detail should an intake form collect first?

The names of the parties and little else, because information about the matter can itself create a problem before the check has cleared. A short first form is both safer and more likely to be completed than the long qualifying form most firms build.

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