In today’s economic climate, legal secretaries, paralegals, law clerks, and other non-professional staff move from one
law firm to another. Nonlawyers who apply to your firm for employment may have previously worked at a firm
representing a party in litigation that is adverse to a current client of your firm. There has been extensive discussion
legarding the ethical problems created by attorneys changing employment from a law firm representing one party in
litigation to a firm representing an adverse party. However, much less attention has been paid to the potential ethical
issues created when a nonlawyer changes firms. The good news is that with early detection and careful screening,
nonlawyers possessing confidential information about an adverse party may be effectively screened from working on
the litigation, thus virtually eliminating the risk that your firm will be disqualified from the case in question.