Method and apparatus for managing conflicts of interest during the selection of legal and legal-related service providers

摘要

A client initially creates a client's request for proposal (RFP) on a client computer. The client also enters information that identifies some of the client's opponents. Next, a service provider creates a service provider profile on a service provider computer. The service provider also enters information that identifies some of the service provider's clients. Next, all of this information is transmitted to a host site computer that is in communication with the service provider computer and the client computer. The host site computer then compares the information identifying the client's opponents to the information identifying the service provider's clients to determine if the service provider should be allowed access to the client's RFP. If one of the service provider's clients is the same as one of the client's opponents, the service provider is refused access to the client's RFP.