How long does subject matter conflict of interest last? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Recently, after a rejection from a NY based firm after a really well CB, I reached out to my screener who was the hiring partner for the group for some constructive feedback. It is a vault gp firm but my position was to be an IP summer associate. The hiring partner wrote back to me that they all loved me but couldn't hire because of a subject matter conflict of interest with one of their clients. She invited me to stay in touch and offered to mentor me. My question is, how long does a subject matter conflict of interest last after I leave my present employment? I work FT as a patent agent in house currently and is working for both prosecution and litigation group.

[jhett]

For litigation, the conflict lasts as long as the litigation(s) are active. For prosecution, the conflict may be indefinite.

When a conflict arises, a firm usually contacts the affected client to notify them of a potential conflict and ask for a waiver. It sounds like in this case the client did not waive, and so the firm was forced to reject you.

Alternatively, if the conflicted client didn't have a problem with you, then firms usually erect an ethical wall to separate you from documents and attorneys representing the conflicted client. Perhaps the firm wasn't willing to do this for you, especially since you are just a SA (safer to hire someone who is not conflicted than hire you and risk malpractice).

Also wanted to add: the situation might change in a couple years, so that's probably why the partner asked to keep in touch. But that's far from assured, so don't think they will definitely hire you in the future.

[Anonymous User]

For litigation, the conflict lasts as long as the litigation(s) are active. For prosecution, the conflict may be indefinite.

When a conflict arises, a firm usually contacts the affected client to notify them of a potential conflict and ask for a waiver. It sounds like in this case the client did not waive, and so the firm was forced to reject you.

Alternatively, if the conflicted client didn't have a problem with you, then firms usually erect an ethical wall to separate you from documents and attorneys representing the conflicted client. Perhaps the firm wasn't willing to do this for you, especially since you are just a SA (safer to hire someone who is not conflicted than hire you and risk malpractice).

Also wanted to add: the situation might change in a couple years, so that's probably why the partner asked to keep in touch. But that's far from assured, so don't think they will definitely hire you in the future.

Thank you for your reply. I think, in this case, the first scenario is true as the partner wrote back the circumstances were beyond their control and they would have loved to hire me otherwise. Actually, at the end of the interview, the hiring partner asked me whether I would be willing to stay back after my SA ends and continue working as a patent agent there and be an associate eventually.

Anyway, after this feedback, I looked back on my other interviews and realized this exact situation happened with two other firms. On the other hand, few firms rejected me because they represent my company and are scared hiring me would be considered "poaching" and they would lose business (I have heard this from my friends who work there as an associate or a patent agent). I have one more CB scheduled and I'm yet to hear back from two more but now I'm really scared what if nothing pans out? What do I do? I have started mass mailing but is there something else that I can do?

[jhett]

Anyway, after this feedback, I looked back on my other interviews and realized this exact situation happened with two other firms. On the other hand, few firms rejected me because they represent my company and are scared hiring me would be considered "poaching" and they would lose business (I have heard this from my friends who work there as an associate or a patent agent). I have one more CB scheduled and I'm yet to hear back from two more but now I'm really scared what if nothing pans out? What do I do? I have started mass mailing but is there something else that I can do?

Does your current company know you will leave them and/or will they be amenable to helping you find a job? If so, you could go to your supervisor and ask them to introduce you to outside counsel that could hire you. This eliminates the fear of poaching. I'm not sure if you can go back to the firms that previously rejected you, but if your supervisor can put in a good word it could work.

Otherwise, keep mass mailing and networking. You've already gotten a lot of interest from various firms, so there's a good chance that more firms will also be interested in you. If you've just been looking at biglaw, start looking at smaller IP boutiques as well.

[Anonymous User]

Anyway, after this feedback, I looked back on my other interviews and realized this exact situation happened with two other firms. On the other hand, few firms rejected me because they represent my company and are scared hiring me would be considered "poaching" and they would lose business (I have heard this from my friends who work there as an associate or a patent agent). I have one more CB scheduled and I'm yet to hear back from two more but now I'm really scared what if nothing pans out? What do I do? I have started mass mailing but is there something else that I can do?

Does your current company know you will leave them and/or will they be amenable to helping you find a job? If so, you could go to your supervisor and ask them to introduce you to outside counsel that could hire you. This eliminates the fear of poaching. I'm not sure if you can go back to the firms that previously rejected you, but if your supervisor can put in a good word it could work.

Otherwise, keep mass mailing and networking. You've already gotten a lot of interest from various firms, so there's a good chance that more firms will also be interested in you. If you've just been looking at biglaw, start looking at smaller IP boutiques as well.

My manager and my work mentor know about my plan of leaving but I have not officially announced it. So the general counsel and the IP group head does not know of my intentions. My manager is a great mentor work wise but he is really bad at networking. So he is not much help. My work mentor, however, knows a lot of attorneys in New York and she promised to call a few people up to see if they would be interested in me. My next week CB is with a firm that represents my company (though not for IP) and I worked with the lead counsel (senior hiring partner) on a collaborative pro bono project a few times. Their firm was not interviewing for New York office but when I reached out to the counsel I worked with, he arranged for me to have a day long CB for their office. He and another attorney that I worked with would be interviewing me along with other interviewers. I don't know if they have a position for me because I didn't see any advertisement for their New York location but I'm going with the hope that they won't want to waste a whole day on me just to humor me. That seems to be my best hope so far. I looked at IP boutique firms in New York but I can't apply to most of them because of conflict of interest.