Obligations to Identified Third Parties

Intellectually, it is easier to contemplate imposing an obligation on a person to care for someone they know than it is a stranger that they do not know. In this way, a law­yer might be seen to have moral responsibilities to identified third parties, non-clients.

There are three large areas of responsibility that lawyers must consider in carrying out their work. The first area of responsibility is to lay third parties, particularly those who are vulnerable or, even though not a client, rely on the lawyer’s special skill or judgement or on a specific promise to do something. The second area of responsibility is to other professionals who need to be able to rely on certain standards of behaviour in order to carry out their own work. The third area of responsibility is to third party funders of litigation. Although these are not, strictly speaking, clients, they are also entitled to consideration from lawyers whom they pay to do work.

The legislature and the courts impose obligations to identified third parties in a numbers of ways, including through contracts, torts and trusts. The decisions shape the legal profession’s perception of the duties lawyers might owe third parties and the nature of those duties. In each of the three areas of special responsibility for third parties, the legal background is outlined, including any potential liability, before the professional regulation of the area is considered.

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