Professional services: client confidentiality and conflicts of interest basics
For trainees, paralegals, assistants, administrators and reception staff in law and accountancy firms, and new joiners from other sectors. No prerequisites. You'll learn what counts as confidential client information, when it can be disclosed and who decides, how information leaks by accident, how to recognise the main types of conflict of interest, and what to capture and escalate at client intake. Jurisdiction: the examples come from the SRA Code of Conduct and guidance for solicitors in England and Wales, and from ICAEW guidance for chartered accountants. Other professions and countries have their own rules. This is awareness training only. It isn't legal or professional advice, and it doesn't grant a licence, a practising certificate or a professional qualification. Decisions on disclosure and conflicts belong to the people your firm authorises.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 75 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify information that must be treated as confidential client information, including the fact that someone is a client
- Identify when disclosure may be permitted or required, and route every request to the person authorised to decide
- Recognise how confidential information is disclosed by accident and apply everyday safeguards
- Recognise own-interest conflicts and conflicts between clients
- Record the details a conflict check needs at client intake and escalate a possible conflict
Course outline
- 1.Identifying confidential client informationLesson · 15 min
- 2.Identifying when disclosure is permitted and who decidesLesson · 16 min
- 3.Recognising accidental disclosure and applying safeguardsLesson · 14 min
- 4.Recognising own-interest conflicts and conflicts between clientsLesson · 15 min
- 5.Recording conflict-check details at intake and escalatingLesson · 15 min
- 6.Professional services: client confidentiality and conflicts of interest basics: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Professional services: client confidentiality and conflicts of interest basics: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs, RFLs and RSLs, paragraphs 6.1 to 6.5 (version in effect from 11 April 2025)
- SRA guidance: Confidentiality of client information (updated 30 June 2022)
- SRA guidance: Conflicts of interest (updated 2 March 2020)
- ICAEW Technical Advisory Services helpsheet: Disclosure of confidential information (for members in practice) (published 1 February 2015, reviewed 21 October 2025)
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