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Why can a lawyer not represent two clients if helping one would harm the other?

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illustration from Charles Dickens's Bleak House — Legal ethics Illustration by Hablot Knight Browne for Charles Dickens's *Bleak House*. Here Lady Dedlock is visited by her cunning old lawyer, who discovers her deepest secret and threatens to reveal it to her husband.

In legal ethics, a lawyer is prohibited from representing two or more clients concurrently if their interests conflict, because an attorney cannot be both for and against a client simultaneously. This rule exists because a lawyer must be able to advance a client's interests without having to forgo the conflicting interests of another.1

Essentially, if a lawyer must sacrifice the interests of one client to further those of another, they are failing in their duty of faithful representation. This prohibition is fundamental to maintaining the integrity of the legal system, as lawyers serve as officers of the court with a responsibility to uphold the fair administration of justice.12

While these conflict-of-interest rules are not absolute and may be waived if both clients provide informed consent, such consent may be disregarded if the public interest is deemed to be adversely affected.1