Article on Agent Duties and Conflicts of Interest

Linda S. Whitton (Professor of Law, Valparaiso UniversityLaw School) recently published an article entitled, Understanding Duties and Conflicts of Interest—A Guide for theHonorable Agent, 117 Penn. St. L. Rev. 1037 (Spring 2013).  Provided below is the abstract of herarticle:

Thisarticle examines the importance of understanding agent duties and conflicts ofinterest, both for drafting a power of attorney that meets a principal’sobjectives and for providing guidance to the agent who will act under itsauthority. Professor Whitton suggests that current custom and practice withrespect to powers of attorney often overlooks the need to adjust agent dutiesto accommodate the principal’s expectations, thus resulting in inadvertentconflicts between the duty to do what the principal expects and default dutiesof loyalty. The article offers practical guidelines for identifying andreconciling these conflicts, as well as best practices to improve the agent’sunderstanding of the authority granted in the power of attorney, theprincipal’s expectations for exercise of that authority, and the duties anagent must meet when carrying out the principal’s expectations.