Lateral Hires

Lateral hiring represents an effective way for firms to improve client service and shareholder value. By bringing on seasoned, skilled attorneys with valuable relationships, firms can better serve existing clients, win new business, increase revenue and boost their reputation.

But taking on lateral hires can be risky. Typically, organizations run accelerated conflicts checks. Importantly, firms must resolve problems before the new hire joins the organization or they risk serious consequences including disqualifications, soured client relations and negative press coverage.

When a firm discovers that an impending lateral hire's past employer has represented a party adverse to a current client, they look to ethical walls to manage the situation. An ethical wall is a restriction that prevents the new attorney from accessing materials or communicating with firm staff regarding the adverse client.

The Problem

In these instances, firms must take special care to ensure compliance. The options available depend on specific state rules and the firm's risk tolerance:

• In many jurisdictions, applicable rules allow the firm to establish ethical walls unilaterally
• In others, the firm may only establish a wall to address a conflict with the explicit consent of the client granted through a waiver
• Different rules and standards also apply to non-attorney support staff

In all situations the firm needs to be prepared to justify the strength of its walls in case of external challenge or motion to disqualify.

Traditionally, law firms implemented ethical walls procedurally, through notification memoranda and by restricting access to physical records. Today firms store a great deal of information in multiple, generally accessible repositories and face several ethical wall enforcement challenges:

• They cannot extend access control protections across all applications where sensitive information is stored
• They struggle with the burdens of keeping wall memoranda and security definitions up to date as new attorneys are added to client teams
• They lack sufficient reporting and audit trails to demonstrate compliance

The IntApp Solution -- Wall Builder

In today's environment, opposing counsel are more willing than ever to leverage any advantage in court to obtain disqualifications. Therefore, it's vitally important that firms demonstrate the use of the strongest ethical walls available and be able to furnish proof of compliance. IntApp offers the market's leading ethical walls solution, adopted and endorsed by top-ranked AmLaw firms.

Mergers