MPRE — Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam — All Questions
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A lawyer wishes to represent two clients whose interests are directly adverse in the same matter. Under Model Rule 1.7, the lawyer may proceed only if, among other requirements:
- a.The lawyer discloses the conflict to the court only
- b.At least one client consents orally
- c.Each affected client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing, and the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will be competent and diligent✓
- d.The lawyer charges both clients a reduced fee
Model Rule 1.7 permits representation despite a concurrent conflict only if the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will be competent and diligent, it is not prohibited by law, the clients are not asserting claims against each other in the same litigation, and each affected client gives informed consent confirmed in writing. Oral consent from one client is insufficient.
A lawyer formerly represented a company in negotiating a contract. A new client now wants to sue that former client in a substantially related matter with materially adverse interests. The lawyer may take the case only if:
- a.The new matter arose more than one year later
- b.The former client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing✓
- c.The lawyer no longer remembers confidential information
- d.The new client agrees to waive fees
Under Model Rule 1.9, a lawyer may not represent a new client against a former client in the same or a substantially related matter with materially adverse interests without the former client's informed consent, confirmed in writing. The passage of time or the lawyer's memory does not remove the duty.
One lawyer in a firm has a conflict that prohibits handling a matter. Under the general imputation rule of Model Rule 1.10, the conflict is:
- a.Imputed to all other lawyers in the firm, subject to limited exceptions such as screening✓
- b.Limited to that one lawyer with no effect on the firm
- c.Automatically waived once the lawyer leaves the firm
- d.Cured if the firm charges no fee for the matter
Under Model Rule 1.10, while lawyers are associated in a firm, none may knowingly take on a matter barred to any one of them by a conflict, so the conflict is generally imputed to the whole firm. Exceptions include timely screening of a lawyer who moves between firms and purely personal-interest conflicts that pose no significant risk to others.