The Junior Who Changed Firms

Conclusion: not without Meridian's fully informed consent, and probably not at all.

1. Confidentiality survives the move. Akosua's duty of confidentiality to Meridian continues after she leaves Kufuor & Partners. She reviewed the loan file, prepared a chronology and attended a strategy meeting. That is not necessarily 'routine' work: a chronology may reveal which documents and defences the bank considered important, and a strategy meeting may reveal settlement limits or weaknesses. The test is whether she has information that is confidential and material to Kofi's defence, not whether she drafted the main pleading.

2. The firm is affected by her knowledge. A firm is generally treated as having the knowledge of its lawyers. Nartey & Co cannot simply ring-fence Akosua and claim ignorance. A screen may reduce the risk of day-to-day leakage, but it does not cure the firm's possession of material confidential information, particularly where the lawyer personally attended a strategy meeting.

3. Meridian is also a current client. Meridian has instructed Nartey & Co on an unrelated corporate loan. A firm owes a current client loyalty and cannot act against that client in a substantially related matter without informed consent. The bank's friendship with the managing partner makes independent judgment harder, not easier; it is not a substitute for consent.

4. Kofi's anxiety and the three-week listing are pressing but do not override the conflict. Acting first and seeking consent later would be worse: it risks disqualification, wasted costs and a disciplinary complaint. The firm should decline unless Meridian gives specific, written, informed consent after full disclosure, and even then should not use any of Meridian's confidences.

Valid consent

• Who consents: Meridian, as the former client whose confidences are at risk, and Kofi, as the client who must understand that the firm may be constrained. Consent should be sought by a partner not involved in either matter.
• What must be disclosed: Akosua's actual involvement at Kufuor & Partners, the nature of the information she holds, the proposed screen, and the fact that the firm also acts for Meridian. Consent obtained without that information is not informed.
• Form: written, specific to this matter, and recorded on both files. A general 'we have no objection' from a junior bank officer is insufficient; it should come from someone with authority.

The screen

• Akosua must have no access to the Kofi file, no discussions about it, and no involvement in billing or strategy. The file should be access-restricted on the firm's system; she should sign a written undertaking; the firm should keep a record of the screen.
• A screen is not a magic cure. If Akosua holds material confidences, the firm still has them through her. Screening is most effective where the lawyer's knowledge is peripheral and the matter is unrelated; here the matter is the same loan recovery, and she attended a strategy meeting.

Practical point: the firm should ask Akosua for a written account of what she did and saw, without pressuring her to minimise it. That record will determine whether a screen is arguable or whether the firm must decline. It should also check whether Kufuor & Partners has a restriction in its retainer with Meridian.

Kofi's matter

• Decline the instructions if they have not been accepted. If they have been accepted, withdraw promptly, before any step is taken that prejudices Kofi, and apply to the court if necessary.
• Protect Kofi's position. Tell him immediately that the firm cannot act because of a conflict, without disclosing Meridian's confidences. Return his documents, provide a clear handover note, and give him time to instruct another lawyer before the case-management conference. The firm may need to seek an adjournment on his behalf if he is unrepresented, but it must not use confidential information to help him.
• Refund any fee not earned and account for any client money.

Meridian's corporate matter

• Do not drop Meridian as a 'hot potato'. A firm cannot terminate a current client's retainer simply to free itself to act against that client. Continue the corporate matter unless Meridian chooses to leave.
• Screen Akosua from the Meridian corporate matter as well. She holds Meridian confidences from her previous firm; there is no need for her to work on the new loan.
• Document the decision. Record the conflict check, the request for consent, the refusal, the handover to Kofi and the screen. If Meridian later complains, the file should show that the firm put the client's interests first.
• Consider whether the friendship between the managing partner and Meridian's legal head creates a separate conflict. If the firm cannot give Meridian independent advice on the corporate loan, it should decline that matter too.