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What is a Conflict of Interest?
 
Lawyers are not allowed to represent both sides in a legal dispute, or to advise or represent clients with opposing interests. A conflict of interest may exist even if it has been several years since we represented the opposing party or obtained information in confidence by another person.

For example, if a person contacts a Prairie State office for help in a collection matter, the client will provide us with information about his or her income and assets. If, at a later time, that person’s spouse contacts us about filing a divorce, we would not represent the second person because Prairie State would have a conflict of interest because we would have obtained information from the first caller that could be relevant in the divorce case. Because of our obligation to maintain client confidentiality, we could not explain the nature of the conflict to the spouse.

Conflicts of interest are very difficult to clarify to the applicant because of the need to preserve the confidentiality of all persons who receive services through our offices. This means that we often cannot give the applicant a full explanation of the reason we are denying services because to do so would mean revealing confidential information.
 
Although it may not seem fair that we cannot represent you, if you really think about it, it is the only way we should treat you. It would not be fair to you if we represented both you and your opponent. No matter how fair we could try to be, there are times in every lawsuit when a lawyer must try to get the best deal for his or her client. This would not be fair to you if we got the best deal for your opponent and not for you. Imagine, also, how unfair it would be if we were to represent the other side in a case in which we knew all the facts against you.
 
It is clear in these situations, we must decline to represent you. Additionally, we must point out the Illinois Supreme Court has rules against us representing a person with whom we have a conflict of interest. We cannot violate those rules or we will not be available to represent anyone.