Legal Ethics Notes PDF

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MLL235 Notes Table of Contents What is ‘Ethics’? ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Challenges Facing Legal Profession........................................................................................................... 1 Sources of Ethics Law ................................................................................................................................ 1 Common Law ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Statute................................................................................................................................................... 1 Professional Rules ................................................................................................................................. 2 Admission to Practice.................................................................................................................................... 4 Admission Procedure ................................................................................................................................ 4 Fit and Proper Person ............................................................................................................................... 5 Readmission to Practice (If Struck off the Roll) ........................................................................................ 7 Ongoing Obligations to Practice ............................................................................................................... 7 ‘Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct’/‘Professional Misconduct’ ............................................................... 8 Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct ........................................................................................................ 8 Professional Misconduct ........................................................................................................................... 8 Conduct that is Both ...............................................................................................................................10 Disciplinary Orders .................................................................................................................................. 10 Disciplinary Procedures........................................................................................................................... 11 Duty to Client .............................................................................................................................................. 13 Retainer................................................................................................................................................... 13 Creating a Retainer ............................................................................................................................. 13 Rejecting a Retainer ............................................................................................................................ 14 For Barristers................................................................................................................................... 14 For Lawyers ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Terminating a Retainer ....................................................................................................................... 16 Duty to be Competent ............................................................................................................................ 17 Under Tort Law ................................................................................................................................... 17 Lawyers Duty................................................................................................................................... 17 Standard of Care ............................................................................................................................. 18 Immunity for ‘In Court’ Acts of Omissions ...................................................................................... 19

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Breach of Duty of Competence ........................................................................................................... 19 Fiduciary Nature of Lawyer-Client Relationship ..................................................................................... 19 Conflict of Interest .............................................................................................................................. 20 Barriers to Information ................................................................................................................... 23 Presumption of Undue Influence........................................................................................................ 24 Consequences of Breach ..................................................................................................................... 24 Duty of Confidentiality ............................................................................................................................ 24 Confidential Information.....................................................................................................................25 Privilege............................................................................................................................................... 26 Breach of Confidentiality ....................................................................................................................30 Duty to Account ...................................................................................................................................... 31 Breach of duty to Account .................................................................................................................. 32 Duty to Costs ........................................................................................................................................... 32 Cost Agreements ................................................................................................................................. 32 Conditional Cost Agreements ......................................................................................................... 32 Void Cost Agreement ...................................................................................................................... 33 Recovery of Costs From Clients........................................................................................................... 33 Liens ................................................................................................................................................ 33 Cost Disputes ......................................................................................................................................34 Cost Assessments............................................................................................................................ 34 ‘Fair’ and ‘Reasonable’ .................................................................................................................... 35 Duty to Disclose Costs ......................................................................................................................... 36 Non-Compliance with Duty to Disclose ..............................................................................................36 Duty Owed to Administration of Justice ..................................................................................................... 38 Duty to Court ..........................................................................................................................................38 Duty to Independence ............................................................................................................................ 40 Witnesses ................................................................................................................................................ 41 Influencing Evidence ............................................................................................................................... 41 Abuse of Process ..................................................................................................................................... 42 Examples ............................................................................................................................................. 43 A Prosecuting Counsel ............................................................................................................................43 Criminal Defence Lawyers....................................................................................................................... 45 Approach to giving advice ....................................................................................................................... 45

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Consequences of Breach of Duty to Administration of Justice............................................................... 46 Duties Owed to the Profession ................................................................................................................... 46 Opposition Lawyers Mistake ................................................................................................................... 47 Communicating with Third Parties ......................................................................................................... 48 Communications with Opposing Client (‘No Contact rule’) ................................................................ 48 Breach of ‘no contact’ rule.............................................................................................................. 48 Duty to Unrepresented Parties ........................................................................................................... 48 Duties to Third Parties ............................................................................................................................49 Undertakings ........................................................................................................................................... 49 Other Responsibilities ................................................................................................................................. 50 Advertising and Soliciting Work .............................................................................................................. 50 Stationery and Practice Names ............................................................................................................... 50 Business Structures ................................................................................................................................. 50 Complaints and Discipline ........................................................................................................................... 51 Objectives of Disciplinary Proceedings ................................................................................................... 51

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What is ‘Ethics’? Generally: • •

Knowing the difference between right and wrong, then choosing the ‘right’ thing In the legal profession: o Separate concept to morals ▪ Ethics are external responsibilities ▪ Morals are more personal and internal o Minimum standard of how a legal practitioner is to behave o Enforced by: ▪ Academic and practical requirements that must be met before admission ▪ Obligations to seek continual professional development o If there is unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct, licence to practice can be suspended/cancelled or practitioner can be reprimanded

Challenges Facing Legal Profession • • • •

Large number of business-like characteristics in todays environment Shift in priority from providing legal advice to making money Duty to court/administration and duty to client may clash, such as when client dictates course of matter Previously traditional legal work can in some instances be conducted by non-lawyers (such as conveyancing)

Sources of Ethics Law Common Law Governs most aspects of lawyer’s relationship with: •

• •

Clients: o Contracts such as retainers o Torts such as duty of care o Fiduciary laws o Equity The court Third parties

Statute Legal Profession Uniform Law (‘UL’) drawing from Schedule 1 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act (Vic): •

Governs all matters relating to regulating the legal profession: o Admission (see ‘Admission to Practice’ on page 4) o Practicing certificates o Continuous professional development o Costs and disclosure o Trust accounting requirements

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o

Complaints and discipline

Definitions (s 6 UL): • • •

•

• •

•

Australian legal practitioner o Holds practicing certificate Australian lawyer o Admitted to and Australian legal profession Law practice o Can be: ▪ Sole practitioner ▪ Law firm ▪ Community legal service ▪ Incorporated or unincorporated legal practice Barrister o A restricted practicing certificate o Cannot be both a barrister or a solicitor o Cannot hire a solicitor o Must remain entirely independent Legal services o Work done in the ordinary course of legal practice Participating jurisdictions o Victoria o New South Wales Non-Participating Jurisdictions o Every other state except Victoria and NSW

Professional Rules •

•

•

•

•

Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015 (‘SCR’) o Minimum standard of expectations as to professional conduct o Codifies number of ethical obligations o Provides standard of conduct in disciplinary proceedings o Rules act as a guide, they are not exhaustive Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 (‘UGR’) o Additional rules regarding if applicant is fit and proper to hold practicing licence o Covers matters not covered in other rule guides Legal Profession Uniform Legal Practice (Solicitors) Rules 2015 o Transfers of solicitors practice o Acting on instructions from debt collection agencies o Conflicts with other business interests Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015 (‘AR’) o Academic and practical training o Procedure for admission Professional Development: o Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Solicitors) Rules 2015

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o o

MLL235 Notes

Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015 (‘UCB’) Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Barristers) Rules 2015

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Admission to Practice Defined in Schedule 1 UL: • •

•

A practitioner can only practice if they are a ‘qualified entity’ (including both practitioners and the practice itself (s 6 UL)) Supreme Court admits based off a compliance certificate provided by the Victorian Legal Admissions Board (‘VLAB’) (s 19(3) UL) o To be eligible for certificate (s 15 UL): ▪ Must hold an appropriate university degree • Must be (r 5 AR): o Accredited and cover Priestley 11 (s 29 UL, r 7 AR) o Equivalent to 3 or more years full time law study • If there is a 5 or more-year delay between completing study and admission, applicant may need further study (r 5(2) AR) • Overseas applicants may need further study (r 11 AR) • Can get exemption if applicant can demonstrate that they have sufficient legal skills and experience (s 18(1) UL) o Very rare o Can be obtained through service with a government authority, within Australia, or partly oversees and partly Australia (s 18(2) UL) ▪ Must have appropriate practical legal training (‘PLT’) • Defined as (r 6 AR): o Legal training through coursework from accredited providers (s 29 UL, r 7 AR), or o Supervised workplace training ▪ Minimum 12 months ▪ Approved training plan ▪ Must be a ‘fit and proper person’ (also r 10 AR) • See ‘Fit and Proper Person’ on page 5 o If above criteria is met, certificate is to be issued (s 17(1) UL) Once admitted, applicant is an officer of the Victorian Supreme Court (s 25 UL)

Admission Procedure • •

• •

Application for a compliance certificate occurs online and requires a statutory declaration (as per s 19(1) UL and r 12(1) AR) Application must have following documentation: o Evidence of tertiary and PLT qualification (r 15 AR) o Evidence of character including two separate character statements (r 16 AR) o A disclosure statement (r 17 AR) o Police report (r 18 AR) o Student conduct report (r 19 AR) Board publishes name of applicant on its website (s 19(6) UL and r 12(2) AR) If further information is needed, VLAB can summon an applicant before them (r 22 AR)

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• • •

If application for certificate is unsuccessful, applicant can appeal to the Supreme Court (s 26 UL) If information provided is false, misleading or incomplete, VLAB can revoke a compliance certificate (s 19(4) UL) Admission ceremonies are webcast

Fit and Proper Person Anyone admitted to practice must be trustworthy and a person the public can trust. To assess, VLAB consider (s 17 UL, r 10 AR): ANY relevant matter Any documents that accompany an application for a compliance certificate o Can be a police report or character statement Assessment is taken with respects to the social norms at the time • •

•

When considering r 10 AR (more specifically, r 10(1)(f) AR), ‘whether the person is currently of good fame and character’: •

•

• • • •

Meaning is not defined, however often taken as: o Character is relating to a persons prior acts (Re Hampton) o Fame is relating to reputation (Ex Parte Tziniolis) Candour and honesty of disclosure o Including refusal to accept responsibility for conduct – which can be worse than the actual conduct (Gibbs v New Zealand Law Society) o Only acceptable circumstance to not disclose is if there is a genuine oversight, mistake or understandable error of judgement (Legal Services Commissioner v Scott) If excluded due to past conduct, this isn’t permanent, re-application under different circumstances and after steps are taken to show fitness can allow entry in the future Mitigating factors of conduct can be age at time of indiscretion or external stressors It is not at the discretion of the applicant regarding what to disclose, the applicant’s duty is to disclose anything the Court might reasonably consider relevant (Re Evatt) Focus is on quality of the applicant with regards to their past conduct o Potentially relevant conduct: ▪ Dishonesty o Honesty is very important o Any past dishonesty such as criminal convictions, academic misconduct etc… is a strong consideration for admission o Need to make full and frank disclosure and show: o Acceptance that one participated in conduct o Appreciation of the significant of the conduct o Rehabilitation to avoid similar conduct in the future o Absolute honestly and trustworthiness is required in legal professionals (Thomas v Legal Practitioners Admission Board) ▪ Criminal history o Includes overseas history (r 10(1)(h) AR) o Indicates lack of respect for the law

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Important considerations: o Nature of the offence o How long ago it occurred o Applicants age at time of commission o Need to fully disclose all circumstances surrounding charge (Victorian Lawyers RPA v X) o Need to show ability to deal wit...