Legal Ethics and Professional Conduct: Duties and Discipline
Core duties
Legal ethics tests the duties of the lawyer and judge: independence, confidentiality, loyalty, diligence, and integrity. Know the duty to avoid conflicts of interest, the rules on accepting and terminating representation, and the limits of the duty of confidentiality. Understand the lawyer's duty to the court and the prohibition of misleading the court. Learn the rules on fees, advertising, and relations with colleagues.
Discipline
Know the disciplinary offences and sanctions, the body that conducts proceedings, and the rights of the defence. Understand the difference between a disciplinary offence and a criminal offence, and the rule that disciplinary proceedings may run in parallel with criminal ones. Learn the duty to report serious misconduct.
Traps
Questions exploit the conflict between confidentiality and the duty to prevent a serious crime, and between loyalty to the client and the duty to the court. Another trap is the assumption that a lawyer may act for both parties with consent; consent cures only minor, fully disclosed conflicts, not representation of opposing parties in the same matter.
Rule of thumb
When duties collide, ask: is the client's instruction lawful, does it create a conflict, and does it require disclosure to the court? Confidentiality yields only where the law expressly permits or requires disclosure.
Worked example
A client confesses a plan to commit a serious violent crime. Confidentiality does not oblige the lawyer to remain silent where the law permits disclosure to prevent the crime; the lawyer should advise the client and act within the statutory exception.