Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

A conflict of interest is when you have a duty/obligation or are doing something but at the same time have an interest that might prevent you from carrying out the first activity. There are a wide degree of conflicts and some are illegal but most are not. If you hire me to represent you in a case but I have represented one of the potential defendants, I have a conflict of interest because I still have a duty to that defendant to not reveal what he told me in the prior case. if I tried to handle the case i could be in trouble with the State Bar for being unethical and the prior defendant could get the court to remove me form representing you.