The California law firm, A, represents many plaintiffs in lawsuits against the manufacturer of a controversial drug, Phiox. Lucy is a paralegal at A, and Lucy has been primarily assigned to work with the Phlox plaintiff clients for the five years that she has been with the firm. As part of her duties at A, she monitored pretrial events, received daily reports from attorneys in trial and acted as a liaison to the many Phiox clients. As these cases were being settled, Lucy realized that she may need to seek another position.

Lucy had heard that the X law firm, across town, was looking for paralegals, and she knew that they were also a big player in Phiox litigation. Lucy contacted them in search of a position. X was interested in Lucy because of her experience, but was concerned about a possible conflict of interest because X represented distributors in those Phiox cases. Lucy felt her chances for a position were slipping away; because the job paid $15,000 more per year, she wanted the position. During an interview at X, Lucy quickly volunteered that she had spoken to the managing partner at A, who was supportive of Lucy's change of positions, and that the many A clients would all sign waivers if X requested them.

Lucy was offered a position at X. However, before she left A, she researched the Phiox cases on which she had worked to collect some form documents to take with her. At X, Lucy did not initially work on Phiox cases. However, as time passed, Lucy was assigned to the trial team for Phiox litigation, and her duties included serving discovery requests on her old employer, A. When the managing partner at A heard that Lucy was working on Phiox cases at X, she immediately sent a letter to X to determine if Lucy's duties included Phiox litigation. X replied that Lucy's work periodically included Phiox litigation and X thought no conflicts existed. A then filed a motion in court to disqualify X from all Phiox cases.That motion is pending now.

Be sure you re-read this question and understand all the facts.Analyze each of the following numbered questions separately (please use those numbers in your answer), after explaining and defining the rules involved, and support your position for each point using the ethical rules, definitions and terminology we have learned during this course, and persuasive arguments:

1. What are Lucy's ethical issues, and why?
2. What are X's ethical issues, and why?
3. What are A's ethical issues, and why?
4. How should the judge rule on A's pending motion, and, as always, why?