In Australia, a solicitor may be restrained from acting against a former client in the same or a closely related matter on three independent bases: (1) the danger of misuse of confidential information; (2) breach of the fiduciary duty of loyalty, which survives termination of the retainer and is not confined to protecting confidential information; and (3) the court's inherent jurisdiction over solicitors as officers of the court, which permits regard to the whole of the solicitors' conduct. The English position in Prince Bolkiah v KPMG — that confidential information is the sole touchstone — does not represent Australian law. Whether the duty of loyalty requires that the solicitor 'discharged himself' from the retainer was denied by Brooking JA.
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