Running a conflict check

A conflict check searches everything your firm holds for the names of people and companies, so you can spot a conflict of interest before taking on work. You need the Run conflict checks permission and a plan that includes conflict checks.

Conflict checks search the whole firm, including matters and records you can't normally open. Results from records you can't open show as Restricted record: you see that there's a match, not what's in it.

Start a check#

1. Open Conflict checks and click New conflict check.
2. Give it a Name of this check, such as the prospective client's name.
3. Optionally link a Matter it's for.
4. Add the searches: one per person or company, up to 25. Each search is its own part of the form; click Add search to add the next one. For each:
   • Choose a person (first and last name) or a company (company name).
   • Click Add variation for other spellings, maiden names or trading names.
   • Under More details, add an email address and phone number to search for, and a Label to remember who this is (the label isn't searched).
5. Under Search options, choose:
   • Search type: Flex search finds close and partial matches, including likely misspellings. Exact search only matches whole words.
   • Search categories: contacts, matters, calendar events, notes, communication logs and document names, or All categories.
6. Click Run search.

The check opens with its results. See Reviewing results and closing a check.

Searching a matter's contacts#

To check people already on a matter, start from the matter instead: see Conflict checks on matters. Each search then remembers which contact it's about, and that contact's own record is left out of its results, so you only see other matches.