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NLJ this week: Unlikeable clients

28 May 2021
Issue: 7934 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , International justice , Legal services
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Should lawyers choose clients that match their own beliefs? They should not, says John Gould, senior partner at Russell-Cooke, in this week’s NLJ.

He refers to the furore around David Perry QC accepting work from the Hong Kong Department of Justice earlier this year. Perry later bowed out. But what about the cab rank rule? And a lawyer’s independence from their client?

Gould writes: ‘Barristers are “hired guns”. It is not necessary (or even desirable) that they express anything but the position of their clients. They argue and represent others for money. They are not soldiers in their own country’s cause.’

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
The ex-wife of a Russian billionaire has won her bid to bring her financial relief claim in London, in a unanimous Court of Appeal decision
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