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The ethics rules governing conflicts of interest are based on the duties of loyalty and confidentiality. These duties are threatened when a paralegal has an interest that is adverse to a client’s, whether personal or business one. A lawyer is responsible for ensuring paralegal conflict of interest does not exist. p. 68. NALA code of ethics Canon 8 states a paralegal must disclose to his or her employer or prospective employer any pre-existing client or personal relationship that may conflict with the interests of the employer or perspective employer and/or their clients. p. 204. A long standing rule strongly disfavors gifts from clients to lawyers, therefore the same rule applies to a paralegal. The inherent conflict in a lawyer’s dual role of adviser to a client and recipient of a gift from a client establishes this disfavor. A paralegal should be aware of this conflict leading to a challenge to the gift or allegations of unethical conduct. Especially in the case of a substantial gift from an elderly or otherwise vulnerable client. The supervising attorney would recommend the client seek advice from an independent counsel and ask the paralegal to refrain from working on the gift document. A will or trust is potential for undue influence, fraud, and overreaching. Courts frequently void both inter vivos (during life) and testamentary (after death) cases, even without showing of undue influence. An attorney may be subject to discipline for accepting such gifts (ABA Model Rule 1.8(c), which prohibits a lawyer from soliciting gifts or preparing a document in which the lawyer or a close relative of the lawyer is given a gift. p.78-79. Timothy would not rewrite the will for Sam because he is elderly and Evelyn has a personal relationship with Sam. It would also be unethical for Evelyn to assist with preparation because it is considered conflicting because she has knowledge

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