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Simple English definitions for legal terms
ethical wall
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A quick definition of ethical wall:
An ethical wall is a way to make sure that a lawyer or law firm doesn't have a conflict of interest when working with a client. It's like a barrier that separates certain lawyers and paralegals from a particular case or client. This helps to protect the client's interests and allows lawyers to change jobs without causing problems for their new employer. To create an ethical wall, certain people are not allowed to be involved in the case, talk about it, or see any documents related to it. Everyone in the law firm or organization is taught about the ethical wall so they know how to follow the rules. It's also called a Chinese wall or screening mechanism.
A more thorough explanation:
An ethical wall is a system that prevents a conflict of interest by stopping one or more lawyers within an organization from participating in any matter involving a particular client. This system is designed to allow a lawyer to move to a new job without the fear of disqualifying the new employer from representing certain clients.
Creating an ethical wall involves:
- Prohibiting certain lawyers and paralegals from having any connection with the matter
- Banning discussions with or the transfer of documents to those individuals
- Restricting access to files
- Educating all members of the firm, corporation, or entity about the separation of the lawyers and paralegals (both organizationally and physically) from the pending matter
For example, if a law firm represents a company in a lawsuit, but one of the lawyers in the firm has a personal relationship with someone on the opposing side, an ethical wall would be put in place to prevent that lawyer from participating in the case. This would ensure that the law firm is not influenced by any personal relationships and can represent their client fairly.
Another example would be if a lawyer moves from one law firm to another, but the new firm also represents a client that the lawyer worked with at their previous firm. An ethical wall would be put in place to prevent the lawyer from sharing any confidential information about the client with their new firm.