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Summary Professional Conduct Rules Exam Notes
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Professional Conduct Rules Exam Notes
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PCR 1:Codes of Conduct:
1. Maintain trust and act fairly:
Solicitors must not unfairly discriminate, abuse position, mislead client or court.
Perform all undertakings.
2. Dispute Resolution:
Solicitors must not misuse evidence, attempt to influence evidence, offer any benefits to witnesses or
waste court time.
Must comply with court.
3. Service & Competence:
Solicitors must only act on client instructions or an individual authorised to provide instructions on
behalf of client. If this cannot be established, act in their best interests.
Maintain skills and knowledge.
When supervising others ensure they are competent and remain accountable for them.
4. Client Money & Assets:
Must account to clients for any financial benefit received.
Safeguard client money and assets.
Never personally hold client money.
5. Referrals:
Inform clients in writing of referral fees.
Must have informed consent to refer a clients matter.
SRA PRINCIPLES:
1) Act in a way which upholds the rule of law & administration of justice
2) Uphold public trust & confidence in the Solicitors profession and legal services provided
3) With independence
4) Honesty
5) Integrity
6) In a way encouraging diversity and inclusion
7) In the clients best interest
Main Codes:
Conflict of Interest- 6.1-6.2
6.1- You do not act if there is an own interest conflict OR significant risk of such a conflict.
6.2 – You do not act in relation to a matter/particular aspect of it if you have a conflict of interest or a
significant risk of such a conflict in relation to that matter or aspect of it, unless:
a) the clients have a substantially common interest in relation to the matter or aspect of it; or
‘substantially common interest’ where there is a clear common purpose between clients and a strong
consensus as to how this will be achieved e.g. a group of people setting up a company may have this.
b) the clients are competing for the same objective,
‘objective’- asset/contract/business opportunity.
, and the conditions below are met, namely that:
(i) All the clients have given informed consent in writing (this may be hard to obtain without
disclosing and breaching the other clients identity), generally only possible for more sophisticated
clients e.g. large companies.
(ii) Effective safeguards have been put in place where effective to protect clients confidential
information
(iii) It is reasonable for you to act for all clients
Important things to note:
o Only applies to current clients, former clients are no longer owed a duty under COI
o If the conflict is merely wider business interests, this wont create a conflict of interest
o There will be a significant risk of conflict where inequality of bargaining power between clients:
Clients interests differ
Ability to give independent advice is impaired
Negotiation required
Inequality of bargaining power
Vulnerable clients
‘Effective safeguards’:
o Chinese walls
o Systems identifying potential confidentiality breaches
o Separate teams and servers handling matters at all levels
o Information should be password protected and encrypted
o Appropriate training and policies for staff.
Will not be appropriate if:
o Firm is small
o Physical structure/layout of the firm = difficult to preserve confidentiality
o Clients are not sophisticated users of legal services
‘Own interests’:
May arise where:
o Client wants to make a gift to Solicitor
o Solicitor has an interest in the business he recommends as an investment
o Has a personal relationship with the client which impacts their ability to advise them independently
o Solicitor sells/buys/ lends money to /from client
Identifying Interests:
o Firm should have effective systems to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements
o Assess relevant circumstances, including ability to act as an individual/if best interest of client will be
impaired by:
Financial interest
Personal relationship
Appointment of Solicitor/member of family to public office
Commercial relationship
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