Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

Conflict of intrest.

I'm a man living with a woman that's been divorced since 2005. She has sole physical custody of her 10 year old daughter. The ex-husband is the adoptive father and to this day is still contentious and harasses her, sometimes bordering on barratry.

I heard of a tactic where one party uses consultations to eliminate lawyers their opponent can turn to. For example, the wife consults with Attorney A. Attorney A now can't represent the husband because that attorney already consulted with the wife. Doing so would create a conflict of interest and could land Attorney A in trouble. She then moves on getting consultations with Attorneys B, C, D and so on. Thus, all these attorneys are tied to her and can't accept the husband.

First, is this true? Second, I am a potential target of him and am interested to see if I can employ the same tactic.

Thanks for any help.


Asked on 5/02/07, 5:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Jesperson Minnesota Lawyers - Jesperson Law Offices

Re: Conflict of intrest.

I gather you posted the previous question regarding out of state travel.

First, the tactic you describe (successive interviews) is occasionally used to disqualify prospective attorneys. From time to time I am consulted by a party who appears to be working down a list of attorneys, and it soon becomes obvious that the real purpose of the consultation is to remove me from the pool of attorneys available to the other party. In practice, this has the effect of disqualifying everyone who has been interviewed, although if it is obvious that the purpose of successive interviews is only to create conflicts, some lawyers may still attempt to take the case.

If you have further questions, my contact information is below.

I should note that such tactics are of limited value, and that if the other party is a litigious character, prone to pursuing every issue in court, he will eventually lose credibility with the court, if he has not done so already. Most judges can spot such litigants.

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Answered on 5/02/07, 8:49 pm


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