Ethics Ruling Number
R4995
Area of Law
Category
Conflict of Interest
Ethics Ruling Date
20/05/2021
Ethics Pub Date
1/08/2021
Ethics Background
In circumstances where a client is alleged to have engaged in actions that may give rise to a conflict of interest in the law firm continuing to act, and the client denies the allegation, the law firm will not be conflicted and may continue to act for their client. A law firm acted for a defendant who had been charged with serious criminal offences. The defendant had a trial listed for hearing in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The defendant denied all the charges. The prosecution intended to call the defendant’s sibling as a witness regarding an instruction sheet allegedly provided to the sibling by the defendant, in which mention was made of a scheme to smuggle drugs into prison for the defendant to pay off witnesses at the trial. Part of the scheme allegedly involved using a forged stamp of the law firm to disguise an envelope containing the drugs as privileged mail. The defendant denied any knowledge of the existence of this document. The law firm sought the guidance of the Ethics Committee as to whether they were conflicted in continuing to act for their client in this matter.
Ruling
In the opinion of the Ethics Committee and on the information presented: 1. At this point the law firm is not conflicted in continuing to act for the defendant in the defence and trial of criminal charges brought against the defendant in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Law Institute of Victoria
Ethics Committee of Law Institute of Victoria Ltd
Legal Ethics Manager
Phone: 03 9607 9336
Email: ethics@liv.asn.au

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