Holland & Knight is being sued in Pennsylvania state court by a client for failing to flag a conflict of interest and safeguard confidential client information after one of the firm’s attorneys improperly accessed a client file to gain an advantage during his personal divorce proceedings.
The suit, filed in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 20, claims that as a result of Holland & Knight’s failure to detect a potential conflict of interest between then-partner Patrick McCabe and a new firm client, McCabe’s soon-to-be-ex-wife’s employer Philadelphia-based personal injury firm Fritz & Bianculli, McCabe and two other firm employees accessed Fritz and Bianculli’s confidential information multiple times from July 2022 to early 2024, violating client confidentiality protections.