Conflict of interest.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Solicitors Regulation Authority,

Can you please advise on the following.

In the event of a Solicitor acting for a member of staff as their solicitor,do you consider this as (A)legal (B) A conflict of interest?

Has a solicitor ever been disciplined in this capacity?

Yours faithfully,

Maria O Callaghan

Bob Stanley,

Dear Ms O’Callaghan

 

Freedom of Information Request – Our Ref: FOI/BS/1503

 

Thank you for your email dated 23 November 2015 requesting information. I
am treating this as an information request under the Law Society Freedom
of Information Code of Practice ("the Code").

 

You have requested the following information:

 

“In the event of a Solicitor acting for a member of staff as their

     solicitor,do you consider this as (A)legal (B) A conflict of

     interest?

    

     Has a solicitor ever been disciplined in this capacity?”

 

 

The Law Society is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act (the
FOIA) as it is not a designated authority, but has adopted its own
voluntary Code of Practice which closely reflects the FOIA. The Code may
be found at:

[1]http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/Get-in-touc...

 

The Code applies to all information held by the Society, including the
SRA.

 

We are currently dealing with your request and will aim to respond
formally by 21 December 2015 which is 20 working days from the receipt of
your request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Bob Stanley

Information Compliance Manager

The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL

t: 020 7320 5662 (Ext 4117)

f: 020 7320 5685

[2]www.lawsociety.org.uk

 

This email is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient then you
must not copy it, forward it, use it for any purpose, or disclose it to
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Joao Curro,

Dear Ms O’Callaghan

 

Freedom of Information Request – Our Ref: FOI/BS/1503

 

Further to my email of 24 November 2015, please find below the response to
your information request under the Law Society’s Freedom of Information
Code of Practice.

 

You have requested the following information:

 

 

“In the event of a Solicitor acting for a member of staff as their

     solicitor,do you consider this as (A)legal (B) A conflict of

     interest?

 

     Has a solicitor ever been disciplined in this capacity?”

 

 

It is not automatically prohibited in the SRA Code of Conduct 2011 (the
Code) for solicitors to represent a work colleague. The enquiry in the
first part of your request is whether the solicitor representing his/her
work colleague has an “own interest conflict”. It is prohibited for a
solicitor to represent a client if there is an own interest conflict – see
Outcome 3.4 in Chapter 3 of the Code.

 

Own interest conflict is defined in the [1]SRA Handbook Glossary:-

 

“for the purpose of Chapter 3 of the SRA Code of Conduct, means any
situation where your duty to act in the best interests of any client in
relation to a matter conflicts, or there is a significant risk that it may
conflict, with your own interests in relation to that or a related
matter”.

 

Firms must have procedures in place to assess whether there is an own
interest conflict as set out in Chapter 3 of the Code.

 

We do not hold information on whether any solicitor has ever been
disciplined in this capacity.

 

 

I hope this information is of use.

 

Your sincerely

 

Bob Stanley

Information Compliance Manager

The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL

t: 020 7320 5662 (Ext 4117)

f: 020 7320 5685

[2]www.lawsociety.org.uk

 

This email is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient then you
must not copy it, forward it, use it for any purpose, or disclose it to
another person. Instead return it to the sender immediately and copy your
communication to [3][email address] then delete your copy
from your system. Please also note that the author of this email is not
authorised to conclude any contract on behalf of the Law Society by email.

Have your say on the future of the Law Society: find out more. Join the
discussion on Twitter [4]#LawSociety2020 or email
[5][email address].

Stay up to date by registering for the Society’s e-newsletters at
[6]www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/newsletters.

To help us improve our service, calls may be monitored or recorded for
quality and training purposes.

Thank you.

References

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