On April 10, 2026, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in In re Zaidi, 2026 Tex. LEXIS 288, 2026 WL 969266 (Tex. Apr. 10, 2026) regarding attorney disqualification due to a conflict involving a legal assistant who previously worked for the opposing party to a lawsuit.

The legal assistant worked for the plaintiffs' counsel from 2009 to 2011, participating in privileged communications and strategic work. She then left that firm and joined the firm Hicks Thomas LLP. At the time the legal assistant when to work for Hicks Thomas, Hicks Thomas was not involved as counsel for either party to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs subsequently prevailed in a bench trial, but the court of appeals reversed and remanded the case for a new trial in 2016.  That same year, counsel for defendants joined the Hicks Thomas firm – five years after the legal assistant. Conflicts checks did not reveal…