Ethics Ruling Number
R5035
Area of Law
Other
Category
Conflict of Interest
Ethics Ruling Date
15/05/2025
Ethics Pub Date
18/09/2025
Ethics Background
Solicitor A is an employee solicitor of a law practice. Solicitor A is raising concerns that a potential conflict of interest has arisen because Solicitor B, a member of the Board of the law practice, has been appearing opposed to the law practice in family law matters in their capacity as an employee solicitor of another law practice.
Ruling
In the opinion of the Ethics Committee and on the information presented: 1. There is a conflict of interest based on the administration of justice including the requirement for the perception of the proper administration of justice. There is potential for clients and the public to perceive an imbalance of power between an employee of the law practice and a member of the board as prejudicial to those interests. 2. Both the employee of the law practice and director of the law practice are subject to the conflict of interest. The matter of any resolution of that conflict is a matter for the law practice but mere disclosure to the law practice’s client is unlikely to be an adequate solution.

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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