Conflict of interest

A conflict of interests is a situation in which someone, most commonly a lawyer, a politician, or a director of a corporation, has competing professional or personal interests that would make it difficult to fulfill their duties fairly.

More generally, it can be defined as any situation in which an individual is able to exploit their professional or official capacity in some way.

In cases of a conflict of interest, the conflicted individual is expected to recuse himself from the matter and not take part in, or influence in any way, the process. For example, judges are seen to recuse themselves from cases from time to time due to personal conflicts of interest.

Types of conflicts of interests

The following are the most common forms of conflicts of interests:

  • Self-dealing, in which public and private interests collide, for example issues involving family, or privately held business interests,
  • Outside employment, in which the interests of one job contradicts another,
  • Accepting of benefits, including bribes and other gifts accepted to cury favor,
  • Influence peddling, using one's position to influence other realms,
  • Use of government / corporate / legal property for personal use,
  • Unauthorized distribution of confidential information

A conflict of interest can become a legal matter if the individual does not recuse from the matter, but instead tries to influence the outcome for personal benefit.

There are two kinds of conflicts of interests, a "real" conflict, which is the type mentioned above, in which the competing interests are exploited for personal gain, and an "apparent" conflict, in which the conflict of interests is acknowledged and is dealt with by the parties involved accordingly.


See also

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