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Conflict of Interest Module

Legalmaster's Conflict of Interest module permits searches for matching names (or any other text, for that matter) through the entire Legalmaster database. You may search for matches of many names at once. This ability to search for many names in one operation is one of the features that characterizes a true Conflicts system.

More generally, the data that are necessary for a billing system to function may be useful for many other functions. Conflict of Interest searches are just one example; the same advantage may be found in our Calendaring and Case Management modules.

The nitty gritty detail

For our purposes here, you may think of Legalmaster's database as consisting of six parts. When you perform a search you may target any combination of them. As you perform your search, Legalmaster keeps you informed as to how many matches it has found in each section of your database that you chose to examine. You may stop the search at any time to see a list of what has been found so far.

Conflicts search

 
The data categories shown above may be summarized into six sections.

  1. Clients

    You may search through your entire list of clients for text buried anywhere in the client's name and, optionally, the client's address.

  2. Cases (or matters)

    Legalmaster permits you to store up to 1000 characters of description associated with each of your matters. You may think of this as an elaborate regarding line. It is actually 20 lines of 50 characters each. You may assign to each of the 20 lines your own caption. The caption appears on the case entry screen, bills, management reports and conflicts reports. All or any portion of this information may appear on your bills. All of it may be searched by the Conflicts system.

    You may assign to any of your matters a billing address that differs from the address associated with the matter's client. In addition, you may assign as many additional addresses to a matter as you wish; these serve as cc's on the bill. All of these addresses may be searched by Conflicts.

    There is yet another option that lets you search or not search for buried text. For example, if you search for the name Smith, you may determine whether or not you want a match to be made with Smithsonian and/or Goldsmith.

  3. The Conflicts List

    It is likely that some of your clients or matters have associated with them more people or institutions than are necessary to store for billing purposes. As a consequence, Legalmaster's Conflicts Module lets you store as many additional names as you want (actually, there is a limit, it's sixteen million). The Conflicts search engine looks at these names, as well. In this instance, you have yet another option; you may perform what we call a vowel-less search. It's a tool that we created to address the problem of variant spellings (Peterson and Petersen, for example) and, unlike sound-based tools, it works with foreign names.

  4. Financial Transaction Descriptions

    You may even ask Legalmaster to search through the descriptions associated with every financial transaction that you have ever entered.; you may also limit the search to a date range. Legalmaster will tell you that you had lunch with so-and-so seven years ago regarding such-and-such a matter. You may perform and/or searches of this text, e.g., you might ask to see every transaction description that contains both the name "Silberg" and the phrase "deposition hearing."

  5. Calendar Descriptions

    If you are using Legalmaster's Calendaring Module, you may search through the descriptions of your Calendar entries, as well.

  6. Case Management

    If you are a proud user of Legalmaster's Case Management Module, you may search through all of the data fields that store text information entered into any of your case management templates.

The report you get when you run a conflicts check

Here's a sample of portions of a conflicts check report. You may get it on your screen or on paper. You may even send it to your word-processor or e-mail software.

We searched for the name ROSTOV. You may, of course, search for more than one name at a time. Notice that Legalmaster found matches among clients, among matters and even in the descriptions of old fee and cost transaction descriptions.

 
Legalmaster Conflict of Interest 9/19/2021 4:23:09 PM Page 1
 
Conflicts checked for ROSTOV 29 matches
Search in files: Conflict,Client,Case,Employee,Transaction description,Docket
Precise match, No alpha characters to left or right, No expanded narrative codes, Client/case addresses
 
*** Search name *** ROSTOV (29 matches)
Conflict file
1234567 Innacoone,Joseph
Dallas,TX 76034
ROSTOV,Herman
Relationship code - EW
Doesn't know much
 
BELAGE Bel Age Hotel,Wyndam
1 Regarding: vs. Rostov
ROSTOV,Bob
Relationship code - PRTNT
 
STM St. Moritz Hotel on the Court
3 Regarding: The third case
ROSTOV,Bob
Relationship code - EW
Smokes
 
Client file
95001 Kutuzov, Rostov & Murat CCA: JSR
100 Bank of Borodino Building
Moscow ID 80045
(309) 246-1357
 
WATER Waterfront Plaza Hotel CCA: JSR
Joe Rostov
1 Washington Street
Oakland CA 94612
(510) 836-9000
 
WELD Weld-Rostov,The Estate of Herman & Mary CCA:
2000 Bank of the United States Plaza
Suite 1000
San Francisco CA 94104
(415) 234-5555
 
Case file
4731300 Silas,Jack CCA: DLB
1 Plaintiff's name: Rostov, Michael
 
IBM International Business Machines Corp. CCA: JSR
WILL2 Regarding: Will for Mr. Rostov
 
ISIS Isis Manufacturing Boutique CCA: LL
443 Plaintiff's name: Orthopia Jolsonesque Manufacturing Company
Adjuster's name: Mary Anne Rostov
 
Transaction desc file
CANTOR Cantor,Eddie
95029 Regarding: Al Jolson
12/29/1983 Direct cost
Disbursement to homeopaths, Petya Rostov and Alexander Bolkonsky.
 
CSP Computer Software for Professionals, Inc
ACQIBM Regarding: Acquisition of IBM Corp.
03/08/1995 Fee CJOC
Meeting with Horace Rostov.
 
FF Fireman's Fan Assurance
560478 Plaintiff's name: Smithson, James
08/16/1982 Direct cost
Disbursement to accupuncturist surgeon, Count Nicholas Rostov.
 
IBM International Business Machines Corp.
3 Regarding: Dissolution
01/22/1996 Fee CJOC
Telephone conference with William Rostov