Opening a matter is a write, so — like every write in this class — it pauses. But this pause is doing conflicts work.
Navigator builds a graph from the firm's relationships (who manages which entity, who is adverse to whom) and walks it
out from your proposed client and entity to see whether the new matter touches a client the firm already serves. The
check is advisory to clear, authoritative to block: a confident, direct adverse link to a current client blocks
the open, and a softer entanglement — a shared entity, a recorded disclosure — is flagged for you to acknowledge.
The lawyer is still the actor. The graph can raise a conflict; only you can clear one — by reviewing the finding
and acknowledging it, which Navigator records to the relationship log as your decision. It is a harness for the conflict
review you already owe under the Rules of Professional Conduct (1.7 / 1.9, imputed firm-wide by 1.10), not a substitute
for your judgment, and it does not promise to surface every conflict — your independent check still governs. The same
gate runs on every path that opens a matter: the portal, the AIDA tool call, and the command line.