Matter detail — Participants tab

This page documents the Matter detail — Participants tab view inside the Matter detail page. The Matter detail page is a two-level tab strip — see Matter detail for the parent overview.

Stub. Full documentation for this tab is in progress. The corresponding app surface lives at /matters/:id?tab=…&subtab=….

Conflict of interest check

Adding or re-classifying a participant runs a conflict check across every matter in your organization — open and closed, because a former client who reappears as a counterparty on a new matter is exactly the case a regulator asks about.

Two shapes are detected:

• Client / Counterparty — the same person or entity is a Client on one matter and a Counterparty or Third-party on another. Detected in both directions. Two clients on different matters is not a conflict (referrals), and neither is the same counterparty on two different deals.
• Staff conflict — someone assigned to another matter as staff is being added here as a Counterparty or Third-party (matched on email).

A detected conflict blocks the save until you acknowledge it. You must record the basis for the waiver — for example, a signed informed-consent letter on file. Your acknowledgement is stored with your name and a timestamp, and a banner stays on the matter until the conflict is resolved.

If a colliding matter is behind an Information Barrier, the collision is hidden from a screened user (it would otherwise leak the walled matter’s existence) and surfaced to compliance on Settings ▸ Ethical Wall ▸ Restricted Matters instead, so the organization still catches it. See Ethical Wall & Information Barriers.

Sources & authorities

The conflict check implements the duty to avoid acting where interests conflict under the rules of professional conduct for most regulated professionals. Because Athenty is not an Ontario-only product, the pan-Canadian model rule is given first and the Ontario rule as its local adoption:

• Model (pan-Canadian) — Federation of Law Societies of Canada, Model Code of Professional Conduct, s. 3.4 (Conflicts), rule 3.4-1, read with the r. 1.1-1 definition of “conflict of interest” (which covers a lawyer’s duties to another client, a former client, or a third person — the limb the Client/Counterparty case turns on).
• Ontario — Law Society of Ontario, Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.4 — Conflicts of Interest (Chapter 3, “Relationship to Clients”), rule 3.4-1. See also Complete Rules of Professional Conduct.

Reviewed and approved by counsel — 2026-07-12

This citation was reviewed and approved by counsel on 2026-07-12 (#577 c.64828).

The rules above are cited as the model. If you are not an Ontario licensee, your own regulator’s conflicts rule governs — the equivalents are substantially similar, but verify yours. Athenty’s check is a prompt to look, not a legal opinion, and it cannot see conflicts that are not recorded in your matters. This is not legal advice.