At a law firm, a conflict check looks for people and organizations connected to a prospective matter, such as the client, its parents and affiliates, adverse parties and opposing counsel, and compares them with every current and former client the firm has records for. A hit does not mean the firm must decline. It means someone has to review the relationship and decide whether the work can go ahead, needs consent or a screen, or has to be turned down.
The check is only as good as the list of names searched and the systems searched with it. Records split across a practice management system, a document store and a billing system are the usual cause of a missed conflict. Software can build the name list and search every system at once, but the decision on each hit stays with a named person, such as the conflicts counsel or the responsible partner.