The court's inherent jurisdiction to restrain solicitors from acting for conflict of interest is to be assessed objectively from the perspective of a fair-minded, reasonably well-informed, disinterested bystander, asking whether there is a real risk of actual or apparent conflict of interest or a real need to protect the integrity of the judicial process. Where a solicitor received but never read confidential documents that were subsequently lost, there is no breach or risk of breach of confidentiality sufficient to ground a restraining order. The question whether a solicitor in such circumstances owes a fiduciary duty to the opposing party was left open.
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