Holborow & Ors v Macdonald Rudder

[2002] WASC 265

Supreme Court of Western Australia

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Legal Practitioners
2. › Restraint on acting
3. › Application to restrain former solicitor from any involvement in proceedings
4. › Whether solicitor had conflict between personal interest and duty to court
5. › Whether restraint justified where solicitor no longer on the record
6. › Whether new solicitors' control of litigation sufficient safeguard
1. Legal Practitioners
2. › Duties of solicitors
3. › Duty to the court
4. › Duty of loyalty to former client
5. › Fiduciary obligations
6. › Conflict of interest
7. › Whether conflict between personal interest and duty to court demonstrated
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Parties
3. › Joinder
4. › Whether person sought to be restrained must be joined as party
5. › Rules of the Supreme Court, O 18 r 6(2)(b)

Quick Take

An application to restrain a legal practitioner from acting for reasons other than risk of disclosure of confidential information requires precise identification of the obligation to the former client or to the court that may be breached. Where the practitioner is no longer on the record and new solicitors control the litigation, the court will not restrain the former solicitor from any involvement absent a clear demonstration that the practitioner's personal interest conflicts with the overriding duty to the court in a manner that may cause the practitioner to fail in that duty.