Would this be conflict of interest with the lawyer? -

I used to tutor a local lawyer s son. I tutored him for about four months, and it s been about three months since I resigned. Now he is about to represent my bf s sister in a criminal abuse case where I would happily testify against her and the things she s done. (and don t pull the quot;oh she might be innocentquot; crap, they ve got so much evidence it s made national news) But would this be a conflict of interest on the lawyer s part since I worked for him in the past by tutoring his kid? I m pretty sure it s not conflict of interest, but it kills me that someone I know would be her lawyer, especially after the things she s done.

No this would not constitute a conflict of interest. You did not have access to information relevant to the representation of the sister when you tutored the kid and the lawyer is in no way jeopardizing his representation of the sister having once employed you as his kid s tutor.

Unless your state has an extremely unusual definition of what constitutes a conflict, it would not be a conflict that prevents representation of the sister. A conflict of interest for a lawyer, in the sense you re using it, is a representation of one client that conflicts with the representation of another client. The rules exist to prevent the improper use of legally privileged information that may have been provided to the lawyer by another client. Since you are not and were not a client, you provided no legally privileged information, and, therefore, there can be no conflict - in terms of the law, at least.

No, it s not. You shouldn t worry about who he represents, as he is a lawyer, that is what he is paid to do. Everyone, even her, deserves representation. There isn t a asterick in the Bill of Rights that states quot;the right to representation is void if there enough evidence to make national newsquot;. Furthermore, if she is indigents, and he was appointed, he had no choice but to represent her. Judges appoint, attorneys do what they are told.

This is the opposite of a conflict of interest . His interest is to get his client the best representation and defense possible. If it is within his power, he will have the case moved to a judge that he has a good relationship with, he will get to dismiss any jurors that he doesn t like, and he will advise his client on what testimony to give and how to give it. He may hire a private investigator to dig up information that discredits the case. All these things are legal, and many are sanctioned by the courts as a defendents rights. I ve a feeling that you don t spend much time in court. It s not the clean , sterile environment that many movies portray. The system is not perfect. It s just the best that we can come up with.