Question of ethics

The largest study of the ethics of in-house lawyers ever undertaken has shown a “gloomy picture” of lawyers wedded first to the commercial objectives of the companies they work for.

A “tranche” of top commercial lawyers “has effectively become privately regulated by the clients they seek to serve”, a leading academic has said. Dr Steven Vaughan said some were “happy to be captured” by clients.

Appeal judges have ruled that part-time judges who are working as barristers do not have to reveal details of “every ongoing piece of litigation” they are dealing with to ward off accusations of bias.

There is “sufficient consistency of evidence and concern” about the standard of criminal advocacy to warrant the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), the Legal Services Board concluded today.

Transactional lawyers should be held accountable if their advice is used by clients for unlawful acts and strict conduct rules are necessary to police this rather than an outcomes-focused principle, law academics have argued.

The Court of Appeal has overturned an injunction that prevented an in-house lawyer from advising on litigation against her former employer. But it acknowledged that the case raised difficult issues around lawyers moving jobs with confidential information.

The latest Question of Ethics from the Solicitors Regulation Authority looks at whether a solicitor should pass on information in a medical report that their client’s cancer is terminal when the doctor says it should not be disclosed.

Question of Ethics from the Solicitors Regulation Authority is back. This weekly column of dilemmas answered by the professional ethics team at the SRA looks at the very topical issue of a lender asking solicitors for details of client back account statements as part of a panel review.

This week’s Question of Ethics from the Solicitors Regulation Authority looks at what you should do if your document storage facility has been badly damaged by fire.

This week’s Question of Ethics from the Solicitors Regulation Authority looks at the obligation on solicitors to obtain the best rate of interest held in a separate designated client account.