Law Firm Conflict Checks: What to Share at First Contact

Start With the Information the Office Requests

Contact the firm through a verified channel and ask what it needs for its initial check. Relevant names may include individuals, companies or other parties, depending on the matter. Explain your role and the type of help you need, and flag a genuine deadline. Do not put your detailed case history into a public directory search box.

If you are unsure why a particular detail is requested, ask the office to explain its intake process and privacy arrangements. Supply information accurately; using an incomplete business name or omitting a relevant party may make the first check less useful. The firm must decide how to assess its position.

Distinguish Intake From an Agreed Advice Appointment

Ask whether you are speaking with intake staff or a lawyer, whether the call involves advice and whether it has a fee. Clarify what must happen before the firm agrees to act. Making an enquiry, sending a document or booking a time should not be treated as proof that every deadline and task has been taken over.

Once the office can consider the work, ask what to send and through which channel. A short chronology and a named priority can be more useful than an unsolicited archive. If the matter is urgent, state the exact date and ask whether the firm can respond in time rather than assuming silence means acceptance.

If a Firm Cannot Act, Keep the Next Enquiry Focused

A firm may decline for different reasons, including scope or capacity. Do not infer that this decides the merits of your matter. Ask whether it can suggest an appropriate type of service or an official referral pathway, while recognising it may not be able to explain every detail of its decision.

Keep track of the firms contacted and the status of each enquiry. For the next firm, reuse a concise description of the task, jurisdiction and date, but follow its own intake instructions. Before sharing the full file, establish the scope, fee and method for handling confidential material. That protects the usefulness of the conversation and reduces duplicated intake work.

Prepare a party list before you send the narrative

Use a private note to list the relevant people and organisations, their roles and any names you know they use. For a business dispute, that might include the contracting company and the trading name appearing on invoices. For an estate enquiry, the office may need information about the deceased person and other involved parties. Follow the firm’s request rather than assuming one universal list applies to every matter.

Keep the list factual and separate from your detailed allegations. If you do not know an entity’s correct name, say so and identify the document that contains the information. Ask the firm what it needs next. Accuracy at this stage helps it assess whether it can consider acting; it does not mean the office has accepted your instructions or reviewed the legal merits.

A useful first-contact message

A concise enquiry might say: ‘I am seeking advice about a proposed employment separation agreement in NSW. The response date stated in the letter is Friday. Before I send the agreement, please tell me what party details you need for your initial check, whether you can offer a review before that date and what the first-stage fee covers.’ This is an illustrative enquiry, not a legal response to the employer.

Once the office invites the material, use its agreed channel and send the complete version it requests. Keep a copy of what was supplied and when. If the date is imminent, ask directly whether the firm has accepted responsibility for advising in time. An automatic acknowledgement or a calendar booking does not explain who is handling a response, filing or other legal task.

Track the status of an enquiry accurately

Use simple status labels: contacted; awaiting initial check; appointment offered; advice engagement agreed; declined; referred elsewhere. Add the person spoken to and the next promised action. This prevents a series of enquiries from becoming a false impression that several firms are already protecting your position. If one firm refers you to another, confirm the new firm’s scope and capacity directly.

If a firm cannot act, it may be unable to explain all the reasons. Ask for an appropriate referral route or type of practitioner without pressing for information about other clients. Keep your next enquiry focused on the same task and real deadline. If timing changes, update the office promptly; do not assume it monitors documents or events that you have not provided under an agreed engagement.

Frequently asked questions