Duties to the client Flashcards
- B must promote and protect fearlessly C’s best int w/o regard to own int or consequences
A barrister must promote and protect fearlessly and by all proper and lawful means the client’s best interests to the best of the barrister’s skill and diligence, and do so without regard to his or her own interest or to any consequences to the barrister or to any other person.
- B must inform client or instructing sol about reas avail alternatives to adjudication of dispute so client can make decision about litigation
A barrister must inform the client or the instructing solicitor about the alternatives to fully contested adjudication of the case which are reasonably available to the client, unless the barrister believes on reasonable grounds that the client already has such an understanding of those alternatives as to permit the client to make decisions about the client’s best interests in relation to the litigation.
- B must help client understand issues, rights so client can give instructions (incl. re compromise)
A barrister must seek to assist the client to understand the issues in the case and the client’s possible rights and obligations, sufficiently to permit the client to give proper instructions, including instructions in connection with any compromise of the case.
- B must advise client charged with crim offence of any law, procedure, practice which holds advantage
A barrister must (unless circumstances warrant otherwise in the barrister’s considered opinion) advise a client who is charged with a criminal offence about any law, procedure or practice which in substance holds out the prospect of some advantage (including diminution of penalty), if the client pleads guilty or authorises other steps towards reducing the issues, time, cost or distress involved in the proceedings.
- B duty to advise C of freedom to choose plea
It is the duty of a barrister representing a person charged with a criminal offence:
(a) to advise the client generally about any plea to the charge, and
(b) to make clear that the client has the responsibility for and complete freedom of choosing the pleas to be entered.
- Unlikely to esc conviction, B advise C GP is mit factor
For the purpose of fulfilling the duty in rule 39, a barrister may, in an appropriate case, advise the client in strong terms that the client is unlikely to escape conviction and that a plea of guilty is generally regarded by the court as a mitigating factor to the extent that the client is viewed by the court as co-operating in the criminal justice process.
- Client denies committing but insists on GP
Where a barrister is informed that the client denies committing the offence charged but insists on pleading guilty to the charge, the barrister:
(a) must advise the client to the effect that by pleading guilty, the client will be admitting guilt to all the world in respect of all the elements of the charge,
(b) must advise the client that matters submitted in mitigation after a plea of guilty must be consistent with admitting guilt in respect of all of the elements of the offence,
(c) must be satisfied that after receiving proper advice the client is making a free and informed choice to plead guilty, and
(d) may otherwise continue to represent the client.
