Introduction

The duty to clients is the foundation of the distinctive ethic of professions. It is composed of a number of separate and specific obligations, such as the avoidance of conflicts of interest and respect for client confidences.

The relationship of all professional persons with their clients, or patients, has been the subject of considerable debate in the last 25 years or so. This attention may stem from changing perceptions of the nature of professional work and professional responsibility. In particular, there has been a move towards recognising that clients have a greater right to personal autonomy than once was the case. For lawyers, one of the core issues is the degree of control that they can exert over the client’s matter and, critically, in making decisions. Such decisions potentially cover a range of matters, including making moral choices on the client’s behalf.

In this chapter ‘clients’ describes present and former clients, that is, people who have, at some point, instructed a specific lawyer to act on their behalf. This does not include people, consumers, who may become clients. This is slightly at odds with the SRA Handbook, which defines a client as ‘the person for whom you act and, where the context permits, includes prospective and former clients’.² The chapter does not cover the selection or refusal of clients, which is dealt with in the chapters on Third

¹ Samuel Goldwyn, Film Producer.

² SRA, Code of Conduct 2011, as amended, Glossary.

Parties. This chapter focuses on the foundations of the relationship between lawyers and those they have accepted as clients. It examines the duties that flow from the relationship, in theory, in law and in the codes.