Real estate transactions are among the most significant financial events in most people's lives, and the attorneys who guide them through those transactions occupy positions of extraordinary trust. That trust is frequently abused. Real estate attorneys who represent both buyer and seller without adequate disclosure create inherent conflicts of interest. Attorneys with undisclosed financial relationships to title companies, mortgage brokers, or developers steer clients toward products and services that benefit the attorney rather than the client. The Ethics Reporter investigates real estate attorney ethics violations across the country, examining the cases where the lawyer hired to protect a client's interests in a property transaction was in fact working against those interests.