Legal Services Agreement Form (Page 7 of 8) in pdf

CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE FOR DUAL REPRESENTATION

In the course of our preliminary discussions, we have explained to each of you that it

is possible that the two of you may not always agree with each other regarding every detail

of your estate plans. For example, each of you may have different ideas about how you want

to dispose of your property during your lifetimes or at your deaths, or you may disagree about

which of you owns particular items of your property, or whether particular assets are your

separate or community property.

Minor disagreements between you ordinarily will not affect our ability to represent

each of you fully and fairly. However, serious disagreements may create a conflict of interest

that will render it impossible for us to continue to represent both of you in a manner consistent

with our ethical and professional obligations. In the event that a disagreement does arise, we

may find it necessary to withdraw from representing one or both of you in connection with

this matter. Should that occur, we will bill you jointly for services through the date on which

we ceased representing you both.

Of course, should either of you feel for any reason that you need the advice of another

attorney regarding any aspect of the services we provide for you, each of you should feel free

to obtain his or her own attorney to provide advice and counsel on this matter, and to assure

you that our representation of one of you is not adversely influenced by our representation of

the other.

Anything that either of you communicate to us will be fully and freely disclosed to the

other, and no information will be kept confidential as between the two of you. Should the two

of you ever become involved in any lawsuit against one another, neither of you will be able

to invoke the lawyer-client privilege as to any communication made by or to us in the course

of our joint representation of you, and either of you may compel us to testify in court as to any

communication made in the course of that representation.

We have no reason to expect that any of these problems will actually arise in your case.

Nevertheless, the ethical rules governing the conduct of lawyers require that we explain to you

the problems that could arise if we represent each of you at the same time, and that we obtain

your consent to this joint representation.

We have explained these possible problems and the potential advantages of separate

counsel to you. We also have explained to you the value and importance of achieving a

coordinated estate plan, and the difficulties that can arise in this area when separate counsel

are involved. Having been provided with all of this information, you have requested that we

represent you in this matter.

Legal Services Agreement Page 7 of 7

Legal Services Agreement Form Page 7