Confidentiality and Conflicts of Interest
What the domain tests
Confidentiality and Conflicts of Interest tests information protection and loyalty. ICLTE expects you to distinguish confidentiality from legal professional privilege, run conflict checks before acceptance, and recognise when a waiver or screening arrangement is effective.
Core rules
- Confidentiality is broader than privilege. Privilege protects certain communications from disclosure in legal proceedings; confidentiality is a duty not to disclose information generally.
- Share information only on a need-to-know basis. Do not reuse a client's glossary, drafts or correspondence for another client without permission.
- Conflicts may be actual, potential or imputed. Check parties, affiliates, adverse parties and prior matters before accepting.
- If a conflict exists, disclose it and decline, or obtain informed consent where the rules permit. Do not decide unilaterally that the conflict is minor.
- Electronic files need access controls, encryption in transit, secure deletion and retention limits.
Worked example
A law firm asks you to translate documents for both the claimant and the defendant in the same dispute. Reasoning: this is a current conflict involving adverse parties and confidential information. Even if the documents are different, knowledge from one side could influence the other. You should decline both instructions or, if the firm proposes separate teams, verify that the screening is genuine and that both clients give informed consent. A promise not to look at the other file is not enough.
Traps
Assuming publicly filed documents are free of confidentiality. Treating a conflict waiver as valid without checking who can consent. Using the same machine translation account for competing clients. Discussing a matter in an online forum. Keeping files indefinitely just in case.