Advance Conflict Waiver Fails, Costing Firm Its Fees

The law firm Sheppard Mullin cannot recover its contractual fee or even quantum meruit for representing a defendant in a huge qui tam action while the firm was simultaneously representing one of the plaintiffs in unrelated matters, the California Court of Appeal, Second District, declared Jan. 29 (Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP v. J-M Mfg. Co., 2016 BL 24241, No. B256314, Cal. Ct. App. 2d Dist., 1/29/16).

The ruling raises the specter of big losses for law firms as they struggle to meet traditional conflicts rules in an era of increasingly large firms and lateral hires that ...