Retained lawyer had legal secretary who used to work as legal secretary for opposing lawyer handling our case?

Is that legal, or does something seem fishy?Retained lawyer had legal secretary who used to work as legal secretary for opposing lawyer handling our case?
If you are concerned that the legal secretary is some kind of spy for the other lawyer I wouldn't worry about it too much. As long as your lawyer is aware that the legal secretary used to work for the opposing lawyer he or she can take reasonable steps to ensure there is no violation of client confidentiality.





Additionally if the secretary and her the opposing lawyer were to conspire in such a manner it would constitute a violation of the law as well as ethics guidelines for lawyers which would result in mistrial, expose both of them to fines and criminal prosecution, civil claims by you and your lawyer, and disbarment for the opposing lawyer.





There is nothing illegal in and of itself about legal support staff moving from one lawyer as an employer to another. If support staff moves from one lawyer to an opposing lawyer during a litigation or transaction between the clients of the lawyers, that might raise issues about preserving client confidentiality and trial/negotiation strategies that the former employing lawyer could raise but in your situation if the legal secretary was not an employee of the opposing lawyer during your litigation there is no such issue.





EDIT: Actually it's mailaccount63 that is wrong and has clearly illustrated that she has no understanding of legal ethics as it applies to conflicts of interests which is probably why she doesn't even bother to explain why she thinks there is a conflict of interest.





It is an indisputable FACT that some legal support staff that work at mid-sized to large law firms do move from firm to firm over the course of years and it is also an indisputable FACT that during the course of their work many of them end up working with attorneys at the firm that are in engaged in a litigation with attorneys of a firm where they used to work.





Conflict of interest covers competing client interests not competing interests of one's current lawyer employer and one's former lawyer employer. In this situation, the legal secretary's actual knowledge about the opposing party being represented that arises from her having worked for the other attorney is the only relevant factor in determining whether there is a conflict of interest. If she has none then there is no conflict of interest so unless she switched employers during the litigation it's highly unlikely that there is any conflict of interest. Even if she did switch employers during the litigation, if she wasn't privy to any client information while she was working for the other lawyer, there is no conflict of interest. If I was your lawyer in that situation however, I would probably get another secretary and would want a waiver from the other side.Retained lawyer had legal secretary who used to work as legal secretary for opposing lawyer handling our case?
Previous poster ';Charis P'; is wrong.





This is a definite ';Conflict Of Interest';. This Legal Secretary should not be working on your case at all. This is not ethical. If the lawyer doesn't remove the Legal Secretary from working on your case, you should get another lawyer asap! I would get another lawyer anyway - you want an ethical lawyer so something doesn't come back later and bite you in the butt.





If this Legal Secretary has any formal training at all, she knows she should be removed from working on your matter. Look at your gut response - it is also just common sense.