Rules and Resources

Discover resources

• I pay you just get on with it - Supervising employees for fun and profit

• Should I communicate with the Court?

• Undertakings - Fact Sheet and Checklist

• What are the rules about advertising as a ‘specialist’ or ‘expert’?

• A solicitor’s role in detecting and responding to Elder Abuse

• Access to witnesses and fairness to an opposing party

• Admitted but not holding a current practising certificate – what can I sign?

• Attorney's entitlement to collect a Principal's will

  Is an Attorney entitled to collect a Principal’s original will from your safe custody or to take a copy?

• Bullying and Sexual Harassment are ethical issues. Was there ever any doubt?

• Can an executor require me to hand over my will instruction file?

• Can I accept a gift from a client?

• Can I act for the client on instructions from a third party?

• Can I advertise 'no win no fee'?

• Can I assert a lien over a client’s passport?

• Can I assert a lien over all of the client's files?

• Can I assert a lien over an original will?

• Can I assert a lien over the file of a totally legally-aided client?

• Can I claim legal costs in a letter of demand?

• Can I cross examine a former client?

• Can I disclose information for the purpose of preventing imminent serious physical harm to my client

• Can I keep information from my client for their own good?

• Can I talk to the media about one of my cases?

• Can I threaten disciplinary proceedings against a practitioner if a civil liability is not satisfied

• Can I threaten to report another party’s solicitor to the LSC if they won't reply?

• Can I use client contact details for mail-outs, newsletters and advertising materials?

• Can I use the term ‘graduate solicitor/graduate lawyer’?

• Can impressions be confidential information?

• Can information in the public domain still be confidential?

• Casenote - Osferatu v Osferatu [2015] FamCAFC 177

  Conflicts in family law proceedings – a more pragmatic test

• Check the client has authority to sue

• Civility is the essence of being an advocate and a professional

• Confidential communications in a social setting

• Confidentiality – migratory lawyers

• Confidentiality extends beyond the office

• Consider your social media (LinkedIn) profile

• Do I have grounds to terminate a retainer?

• Documents obtained by discovery or court process

  Can I use documents obtained by discovery or the court process for a purpose that is collateral to the proceedings?

• Does the cab-rank rule apply to solicitors?

• Ethical duties when instructions received from debt collection or mercantile agents

• Has QLS an official position on Collaborative Law?

• How can I keep track of my undertakings?

• How do I conduct an appropriate teleconference in an ethical manner?

• How does someone make a complaint about a solicitor?

• How should you hold your safe custody documents?

• I have learned that my client has lied when giving evidence before a court. What are my duties?

• If I have overseas qualifications but no practising certificate, how can I describe myself?

• Inadvertent disclosure - a case note on the High Court decision of Expense Reduction

• Information Barrier Guidelines

• Information barriers

• Informing the client of ADR

• Issues to consider regarding safe custody documents

• Making due enquiry as to a testator’s testamentary capacity

• Managing firm departures

• Mirror wills

  What you should consider if one client wishes to engage you after they split?

• My client has threatened self-harm. What should I do?

• Negotiations and confidentiality

• Paralegals

• Paying referral fees - disclosure to the client must be overt

• Practitioners should not use the phrase “Off the Record”

• Professional courtesy revisited

• Professional independence – the need to test your client’s story

• Providing a second opinion to a client who is legally represented by another solicitor

  Can I provide a second opinion to a client where another solicitor is currently acting for that client?

• Reducing the risks in concurrent representation

• Request for documents or information from a client where there is a lien on the file

  I am asserting a lien on a file. The client has asked for documents or information from the file. Do I have to comply?

• Responding to disciplinary complaints

  What should I do if I receive a complaint letter from the Legal Services Commission (‘LSC’) or Queensland Law Society (‘QLS’)?

• Rule 30 - disclosing a client's prior convictions

  Does Rule 30 require a defence lawyer to disclose a client’s prior convictions when the prosecution has failed to do so?

• Should I accept instructions from more than one client in the same or related transaction?

• Should I act for both a buyer and a seller in a conveyancing transaction?

• Should I advise a colleague that I have instructions to commence proceedings against them?

• Should restricted practitioners be engaged as contractors

• Some tips in determining testamentary capacity

• Success starts with consensus and clear instructions

• Successive representation

  The tension between the duty to protect confidences and the duty to disclose (a case study)

• Taking unfair advantage of drafting errors

• The Complaint Process - Legal Services Commission

• The differences between witnessing as a lawyer as opposed to a solicitor

• The duty not to counsel or assist a client to destroy documents on social media

• The extent of the duty of confidentiality in criminal matters and misconduct allegations

• The importance of effective supervision

• To Cc or Bcc, that is the question – email, etiquette and ethics

• What are my duties in interlocutory applications?

• What are our obligations to a client with a cognitive disability?

• What are the rules about advertising for personal injury work?

• What are the rules about solicitors’ advertising generally?

• What can I witness before and after I am admitted?

• What can you do between being admitted and receiving your practising certificate?

• What do I do if my client confesses guilt to me but wants to plead not guilty?

• What do I do if my client is not guilty but wants to plead guilty?

• What happens if I fail to honour my undertaking?

• What if the other solicitor’s client contacts me to discuss the matter?

• What is confidential information?

• What is meant by ‘reasonable security’ in rule 15.1 ASCR?

• What is the rule about who is entitled to inspect and have a copy of the will of a deceased person?

• What should I consider when accepting instructions from joint clients?

• What should I do if I believe that my client intends to physically harm someone?

• What should I do if I have doubts about my client’s capacity?

• Who owns file notes?

• Who owns the client file where there has been a joint retainer?

• Who owns what in a client file?

• Whose details can appear on my law practice’s letterhead/emails and business cards?

• Why is having a secret client base inappropriate?

• Will Instructions – Potential for Conflict

• Your duty to inform the court of legal authorities