Developments in conflicts law
A September CBA journal article (PDF) by Julie Stauffer discussed the “trilogy” of Supreme Court of Canada cases on conflicts, and refers to the McKenna v. Gammon Gold case, in which a subsidiary of a bank sought to disqualify the plaintiffs’ counsel, Siskinds, on the basis that the firm had represented the bank in a different matter. The article suggests the ruling in McKenna is that subsidiaries of one’s corporate client aren’t automatically one’s clients as well. This case and others like it will define the boundaries of a lawyer’s duty to be loyal to his or her client.
