When people think about a conflict of interest, they often think about outside issues. For instance, maybe they find out that their attorney has a family member on the board of a company that they’re suing. This is clearly a conflict of interest due to the attorney’s personal connections, which may mean that the lawyer isn’t focused on their client’s best interests. They are taking steps to help the business executive, who is a close family member.
But it’s also possible for an attorney to have a conflict of interest with another client. This is why attorneys have to be careful not to represent two clients who are on different sides of the same case. It would be impossible for them to put the best interests of each client first, meaning that the representation could suffer on both sides.
Your attorney should fight for your rights
The key thing to remember is that your attorney should always put your best interests first and work hard to defend your rights. This is true in any kind of case, whether facing criminal charges or going through a divorce. You need to know that your attorney is focused on maximizing your success and that nothing will prevent them from doing so. You have a legal right to this type of representation.
Unfortunately, a conflict of interests can be highly detrimental to this process. There are even situations in which people will lose cases that they thought they were going to win, and they believe the reason for that loss is that the attorney had a conflict of interest. With any other attorney, there would have been a very different outcome. If you find yourself in this position, you may want to begin looking into your legal options.