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A conflict of interest is a situation in which someone in a position of trust, most commonly a lawyer, a politician, or a director of a corporation, has competing professional or personal interests that would either make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties fairly, or would create an appearance of impropriety that could undermine public confidence.
In the legal profession, the duty of loyalty owed to a client is generally supposed to preclude an attorney (or a law firm) from representing persons with interests adverse to those of the client. For example, the same firm will not represent both parties to a divorce.
More generally, conflict of interest can be defined as any situation in which an individual is in a position to exploit a professional or official capacity in some way.
In cases of a conflict of interest, the conflicted individual is expected to recuse himself from the matter and not take part in, or influence in any way, the process. For example, judges recuse themselves from cases from time to time due to personal conflicts of interest.
There are two kinds of conflicts of interests: a "real" conflict, in which the competing interests are exploited for personal gain, and an "apparent" conflict, in which the conflict of interests is acknowledged and is dealt with accordingly by the parties involved.
Being in conflict of interest is not, in and of itself, evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, for many professionals, it is virtually impossible to avoid having conflicts of interest from time to time. A conflict of interest can, however, become a legal matter if the individual tries to influence the outcome for personal benefit.
Types of conflicts of interests
The following are the most common forms of conflicts of interests:
- Self-dealing, in which public and private interests collide, for example issues involving family, or privately held business interests,
- Outside employment, in which the interests of one job contradict another,
- Accepting of benefits, including bribes and other gifts accepted to curry favor,
- Influence peddling (using one's position to influence other realms),
- Use of government / corporate / legal property for personal use,
- Unauthorized distribution of confidential information
See also
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