Ethics Blog

The Legal Services Board of England and Wales is once again wrestling with the vexed issue of referral fees. Should lawyers be able to pay for clients referred to them? See the Guardian article here.

Paying for referrals is standard practice in other areas of business so why should it be a problem in the legal profession?

For decades law firms have shared confidential information with third parties, most commonly typing services. These days some practices are outsourcing legal work to overseas lawyers, often in India. With the growth of online or 'cloud' file management systems the trend, internationally at least, is to store client files electronically via internet systems provided by third party providers.

Years ago when I managed a community organisation one of my staff was injured at work. I did what I could to help and, being the caring kinda guy I am, even recommended he seek legal advice. He did - and the lawyer he retained was the kind that bristled with spittle and rage every time he opened his mouth.

If you've attended one of the ethics seminars I've spoken at recently you would have heard  that modern digital photocopier hard drives can store up to 20,000 documents. I raised this to ensure you are aware of the potential risks and treat a copier as you would a computer  ie. make sure the hard drive is clean before you dispose of it.

In what is probably the first decision of its kind, the New York Bar has released an ethics decision on lawyers' use of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, to acquire information on the other side of a dispute.

New York Bar Ethics Opinion 843 allows, “A lawyer who represents a client in a pending litigation, and who has access to the Facebook or MySpace network used by another party in litigation, may access and review the public social network pages of that party to search for potential impeachment material."

It seems like I've been talking about the new national conduct rules forever and finally the public consultation begins. Along with our colleagues throughout Australia QLS has been involved in drafting a set of rules that will apply to all solicitors regardless of where in Australia you practice. 

Qld is the first jurisdiction to launch its public consultation and we would apprewciate all feedback so we can make these rules the best they can be.

So there you are on your feet in Court putting your client's case as best you can when it dawns on you that something in your submission doesn't quite gel. During a break you investigate and discover that your client has misled you - and as a result, you have misled the Court. What do you do?

The issue of clients misleading the Court is dealt with in Queensland Solicitors' Rule 15. The basic process is that you ask your client for instructions to correct the misleading statement and if they refuse, you withdraw.