How to avoid conflicts of interest
Recognizing and avoiding conflicts of interest is one of the central obligations of the legal profession. timeSensor LEGAL supports you with a safety net with a double bottom, thanks to our two-stage examination of conflicts of interest:
1. preliminary check
The preliminary check serves to quickly and easily determine whether a new mandate can be accepted. The preliminary check can take place, for example, in direct telephone contact with the potential client, or as a standardized process before the creation of a client file.
Open the preliminary check via the "Tools" menu in the address list and select "Search for conflicts of interest". Alternatively, you can open the window by holding down the Alt/Option key and clicking on the "Plus" icon to add a file. The dialog allows you to check both a potential client and a potential counterparty.
The search algorithm searches for all kinds of conflicts, including those that occur via indirect address relationships.
The following is checked for the potential client:
- is he already recorded in the database as a counterparty or employee?
- is he connected by a relevant connection with a contact which is registered as a counterparty? Hierarchical connections of any depth are taken into account here.
- is he linked with a mandate as counterparty?
- is he connected to a contact through a relevant connection, which is connected to a mandate as a counterparty? Hierarchical connections of any depth are taken into account here.
- is he recorded as a counterparty in any connected databases?
The following will be examined for the potential counterparty:
- is he already recorded in the database as a client or employee?
- is she connected to a contact, which is registered as a client, via a relevant connection? Hierarchical connections of any depth are taken into account here.
- does a mandate exist in the database?
- is there a relevant connection to a contact for which a mandate exists?
- is she registered as a client in any connected databases?
You can use the "Tolerance" slider to influence the search tolerance so that names entered incorrectly do not become pitfalls. A search tolerance of zero searches exactly for the entered character string. The further you move the slider to the right, the vaguer the search becomes. The algorithms "
Soundex" and "
Levenshtein-Distance" are combined to detect similar sounding names in the database
Note: when searching for connected addresses, the connections defined in timeSensor LEGAL are used. However, only relevant connections are taken into account. If the menu "Participation in conflict" is set to "Not involved" in a connection, the connection is not taken into account.
2. inspection
Should the preliminary check not have been carried out or not have been carried out correctly, a subsequent check is carried out in the second stage. It permanently searches for conflicts in the background and reports them by sending a ticket to the mandate leaders involved.
The conflicts of interest found can be displayed in the "Conflicts of Interest" window. An existing conflict is resolved either by removing the mandate or by a partner approving the conflict with a small justification. As a result, the conflict is regarded as known but accepted as justified.
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