The State Bar Association of North Dakota Summer 2015 Gavel Magazine | Page 16

Make sure would-be clients understand
they are not your clients until conflicts
are checked and you agree to take their case.
or a substantially related matter if the
lawyer received information from the
potential client that could be significantly
harmful to that person in the matter,
except as provided in paragraph (d). If a
lawyer is disqualified from representation
under this paragraph, no lawyer in a
firm with which that lawyer is associated
may knowingly undertake or continue
representation in such a matter, except as
provided in paragraph (d).
(d) When the lawyer has received
significantly harmful information,
representation is permissible if:
(1) both the affected client and the
potential client have given consent; or
(2) the lawyer who received the
information took reasonable measures
to avoid exposure to more significantly
harmful information than was reasonably
necessary to determine whether to
represent the potential client and notice
is promptly given to the potential client.

What is a Potential Client?
Under Rule 1.18, a “potential client” is
“a person who discusses with a lawyer the
possibility of forming a client-lawyer
relationship.”
Comment [2] to Rule 1.18 recognizes that
not all initial communications from persons
who wish to become potential clients
result in a “discussion” within the meaning
of the rule: “a person who communicates
information unilaterally to a lawyer, without
any reasonable expectation that the lawyer is
willing to discuss the possibility of forming a
client-lawyer relationship, is not a potential
client.” To “discuss” generally contemplates
a two-way communication which begins
with an initial communication from a person
who wishes to become a potential client.
See A