---
id: KB-CL-020
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/collaboration/two-clients-that-compete-with-each-other
idioma: en
categoria: colaboracion
subcategoria: externos
audiencia: usuario
nivel: avanzado
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CL-011, KB-CL-001]
citadoPor: [KB-CL-012]
---

# Two clients that compete with each other

_You work for both and neither wants the other to know a thing. The separation is not about folders: it is about people and names._

**Responde a:** working for two competing companies · keeping client information separate · conflict of interest between clients · stopping one client seeing another

It happens to any law firm, consultancy, engineering practice or specialist supplier: two clients in the same sector, sometimes direct competitors, both telling you things they would not say in front of the other. It works until someone slips, and the slips are almost never about documents.

## Where it leaks in practice

| Route | How it happens | What prevents it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Names | A list, a template or a link mentioning the other | Each seeing only their own, titles included |
| People | Someone on the team works on both | Deciding who goes where, and writing it down |
| Conversations | An example offered in good faith in a meeting | The rule is never to illustrate with the other |
| Reused documents | A template retaining data from the original | Starting from a clean base, not from earlier work |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The first row surprises people and is the most neglected: **they do not need to see the other's document; seeing their name is enough**. A dropdown listing clients, a file title, an attachment keeping its original filename. No confidential data has leaked, and yet the client now knows you work for their competitor — and from that moment the conversation is a different one. Separation starts with what is visible, not with what is stored.

## How the separation is built

1. **One space per client, not a folder inside the same one** — Whatever sits in the same place eventually gets seen.
2. **Access by person and by client, reviewed** — Teams change and access is inherited unnoticed.
3. **Your own templates, not copies of the other's work** — A reused document carries more than shows.
4. **And a conversation rule, said out loud** — It is what prevents the well-meant example in a meeting.

> [!WARNING]
> On the team: **someone who has worked for both cannot un-know what they know**, and permissions no longer cover that. If a person moves from one client to the other, decide it explicitly and, depending on the sector, tell the parties. It is uncomfortable and it protects exactly what is at stake — because the day one of them finds out on their own, the question will not be whether there was a leak, but why you did not say so.

## When it must be disclosed and when it cannot be accepted

**En corto**

- If the engagement is about the other client, no separation will do.
- If one contract bars you from working for the other, it is a legal question, not an organisational one.
- And if you are unsure whether to disclose, that doubt is already the answer to check.

> [!NOTE]
> Which confidentiality and conflict-of-interest duties apply depends on your profession, your contracts and your professional body or sector. **Your adviser settles that**; here we describe how to avoid the accidental leak, which is the one that actually happens.

**Are separate folders enough?**

No: they separate content, not names or people.

**Can I use an anonymised piece of work as an example?**

Carefully: in small sectors the case is recognised without the name.

**What if one of them asks me directly?**

Answer truthfully within what you may say, and check first what that is.

## Ejemplos

**A consultancy sends a client a template still carrying another client's original filename.**

- Starts from a clean base and reviews who sees which names, not only which documents

→ The client does not learn from a filename that they also work for the competition.

**Two competing clients ask for access to files on the same shared project.**

- Separates each one's scope before granting anything
- Checks what each would see of the other
- Records what was shared with whom

→ Each client sees their own and there is no way for one to infer the other's.

**A report mentioning the competitor is shared.**

- Reviews the content before sharing

→ Nothing is leaked that should not be.

**One employee handles both clients and mixes contexts.**

- Separates the files and limits cross access

→ The error stops being possible by oversight.

**Both appear on the same recipient list.**

- Checks the recipients before sending

→ Nobody sees who else you work with.

**A client asks whether you work with their competitor.**

- Answers within what the contract allows

→ The answer is given on a basis rather than improvised.

**The same template is reused and the other's name appears.**

- Reviews templates before reusing them

→ The document goes out clean.

**Nobody knows what each has seen.**

- Checks the access log

→ The separation is demonstrable.