Conflict check

Ask for this when: someone new is about to become a client, or you want to know whether the firm has dealt with a person or company before.

"Run a conflict check on Maria Alvarez and Northside Insurance." "Have we ever had anything with the Delgados?" "Are we clear to take on this new client?"

The assistant also runs it on its own, and tells you it did, whenever you ask it to open a matter for a new person.

What it does

It takes every name you give it - the would-be client, the other side, anyone else involved - and searches Clio for each one: the contacts list, and the matters, including closed ones. For every contact it finds, it then looks up every matter that person or company is on, as the client or in any other role, and shows you a table: the name you gave, who matched in Clio, and which files they are on, with the file's status and the role the firm recorded ("client on 00012-Smith, closed 2024"; "opposing party on 00031-Doe, open").

If you give it one name and a matter type, it asks once for the other side before searching, because a check on the client alone is half a check. If that is all you have, it runs on that and says so.

It never says "no conflict". It says what it searched and what matched, and the decision stays with you.

What it can't do

• It only sees Clio. Paper files, an older system, and a colleague's memory are not in it.
• It matches names, not people. "Bob Johnson" entered as "Robert Johnson" can be missed; it searches the surname on its own to help, but a maiden name or a company's trading name can still slip past. Give it every spelling you know.
• A hit is a prompt to look, not a finding. Two contacts with the same name may be one person entered twice, or two people.
• It does not open the matter. That is a separate step with its own "show me first, then yes", exactly like every other write.
• It does not give an opinion on whether something is a conflict under the rules. That is a legal judgment and it is yours.