Self-dealing

Professional responsibility
Duties to the client
Confidentiality Avoiding conflict of interest Diligence and competence Avoid commingling Avoid self-dealing Effective assistance Avoid fee splitting Withdrawal from representation
Duties to the court
Disclosure of perjury Disclosure of adverse authority
Duties to the profession
Limitations on legal advertising Report misconduct
Sources of law
ABA Model Rules
Penalties for misconduct
Disbarment  · Judicial misconduct

Self-dealing is the conduct of a trustee, an attorney, a corporate officer, or other fiduciary that consists of taking advantage of his position in a transaction and acting for his own interests rather than for the interests of the beneficiaries of the trust, corporate shareholders, or his clients. Self-dealing may involve misappropriation or usurpation of corporate assets or opportunities. Self-dealing is a form of conflict of interest.

One of the more current and widely agreed on definitions is from political scientists Ken Kernaghan and John Langford in their book “The Responsible Public Servant”. They define self-dealing as “a situation where one takes an action in an official capacity which involves dealing with oneself in a private capacity and which confers a benefit on oneself."

Michael McDonald, Ph.D, Chair of Applied Ethics at The University of British Columbia provides examples based from this book: “You work for government and use your official position to secure a contract for a private consulting company you own” or “using your government position to get a summer job for your daughter”.

Where a fiduciary has engaged in self-dealing, this constitutes a breach of the fiduciary relationship. The principal of that fiduciary (the person to whom duties are owed) may sue and both recover the principal's lost profits and disgorge the principal's wrongful profits.

External references

• Ethics and Conflicts of Interest