Does your firm have a clear policy to check and clear conflicts for temp or contract lawyers?
A lawyer / e-discovery expert asked me this yesterday. With all the articles and conferences about EDD, I don’t recall seeing much on this topic. Nor have I heard anything in private discussions. Some tough issues need to be addressed. Do you need to treat contract or temp lawyers the same as any lateral lawyer entering your firm? How well do agencies or the temps themselves keep track of all the past matters on which they’ve worked? What happens if a temp’s memory is not reliable? Does it matter that a temp might only have worked on a project for a day? Does it matter who pays the temp lawyers (law firm versus the client)? Or where the temps work (your space versus the temp agency’s)?
Does anyone know of published material on these questions or have a policy they are willing to share? If so, please let me know at ron at prismlegal dot com.