Professional Ethics Project

Topic:Bar council of India rules

duty to the Clients Rules 12 to
22A

By:N .JAYASANKAR

Roll No. 773

9 t h Semester,
B.A. LL.B (Hons.)
NUALS, Kochi

INTRODUCTION
There has been in a change in how a lawyer must prioritise his duties towards his profession
and these have rightly been boiled down to the 3 Cs Client Court and Constitution. The
legal practitioner thus has a triple obligation An obligation to his/her client, to be loyal and
faithful to them until the end; An obligation to the court and the law of the land, to be a
dependable cog in the wheel that is the judiciary so that justice may be administered; and an
obligation to ones own legal profession, to not tarnish or besmirch its name by doing
anything that goes against the professional ethics of a lawyer.
In todays world, a lawyers duty towards his/her client has attained a position of prime
importance with respect to the professional ethics which a lawyer must follow. In the case of
V. C. Rangadurai vs D. Gopalan And Ors.1, the Supreme Court referred to a speech made in
1864 by Lord Brougham while holding that, [Lord Brougham, then aged eighty-six, said in
a speech, in 1864](sic.), that the first great quality of an advocate was 'to reckon everything
subordinate to the interests of his client'. What he said in 1864 about 'the paramountcy of the
client's interest', is equally true today. The relation between a lawyer and his client is highly
fiduciary in its nature and of a very delicate, exacting, and confidential character requiring a
high degree of fidelity and good faith. It is purely a personal relationship, involving the
highest personal trust and confidence which cannot be delegated without consent. A lawyer
when entrusted with a brief, is expected to follow the norms of professional ethics and try to
protect the interests of his clients, in relation to whom he occupies a position of trust. The
appellant completely betrayed the trust reposed in him by the complainants.

1 (1979) 1 SCC 308

Professional Ethics may be defined as a code of conduct which is written or unwritten for the
regulation of behaviour of a practicing lawyer towards his/her profession and peers, his/her
client and towards the court and the law of the land. In India, the legal profession is governed
by a body of rules laid down by the foremost legal body known as the Bar Council of India.
As per Section 49(1) of the Advocates Act, 1961, the Bar Council of India has the general
power to frame rules relating to the standards of professional conduct and etiquette to be
observed by advocates. In Chapter II of Part VI of the rules formulated by the Bar Council of
India liesthe rules regarding the duty of a lawyer towards his/her profession, colleagues,
clients and the court.
The focus of this paper is to highlight the rules that govern a legal practitioner in his
obligations towards his/her client i.e. the rules to be followed by a legal practitioner with
respect to his/her duty towards his/her client. The scope of the paper lies within Rules 12 to
22A of Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules. What this paper seeks to achieve is to give
a wholesome view on a lawyers duty towards his client under the Indian law, with a
comparative analysis to the law of United Kingdom, United States of America and Australia
for an in-depth understanding of the law in the international scenario. Furthermore, the law
will be supplemented by case laws wherever possible.
BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA RULES CHAPTER II OF PART VI
Part VI of the Bar Council of India consists of rules that govern advocates. The Rules formed
within Chapter II of this part deals with rules relating to the standards of professional conduct
and etiquette that is to be observed by advocates. The Preamble of Part VI, Chapter II makes
the following very clear:An advocate shall, at all times, comport himself in a manner befitting his status as an
officer of the Court, a privileged member of the community, and a gentleman, bearing in

mind that what may be lawful and moral for a person who is not a member of the Bar, or for
a member of the Bar in his non-professional capacity may still be improper for an advocate.
Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing obligation, an advocate shall fearlessly
uphold the interests of his client and in his conduct conform to the rules hereinafter
mentioned both in letter and in spirit. The rules hereinafter mentioned contain canons of
conduct and etiquette adopted as general guides; yet the specific mention thereof shall not be
construed as a denial of the existence of others equally imperative though not specifically
mentioned.
This paragraph is of great importance as it brings out the entire essence of the rules laid down
in Part VI, Chapter II of the Bar Council of India rules. It emphasises on the qualities that a
lawyer must possess namely, composed, gentlemanly, lawful and moral. It also lays down that
a legal practitioner must uphold the interests of his/her client without any fear, while
conforming to the basic principles of ethical conduct to be adopted by all lawyers. Thus, the
preamble to Chapter II of Part VI is very essential in order to understand the professional
ethics which a lawyer must follow and it summarises these succinctly.
Chapter II of Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules consists of 4 Sections, each dealing
with a specific duty of a lawyer. These are briefly as follows:1. Section I Duty to the Court (Rule 1 to Rule 10)
2. Section II Duty to the Client (Rule 11 to Rule 33)
3. Section III Duty to the Opponent (Rule 34 to Rue 35)
4. Section IV Duty of Colleagues (Rule 36 to Rule 39)

However, for the purpose of this paper, we shall be dealing only with Section II(Rule 11 to
22), Chapter IV under Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules i.e. Duty of a lawyer to
his/her client which will be dealt with in the next section in depth.
DUTY OF A LAWYER TO HIS CLIENTS
(SECTION II, CHAPTER IV, PART VI OF THE BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA RULES)
In India, the relationship of the counsel with his/her client is a contractual relationship. It is
also a relationship in the nature of an agent and principle. The contract between the client and
his/her counsel determines as to the extent the counsel can bind the client by his/her acts and
statements, the remuneration, whether the counsel shall have a lien on the clients property
etc. However, due to the rules relating to a counsels conduct with his/her clients laid down
by the Bar Council of India, a counsel cannot be called as a mere agent/mouthpiece of his/her
clients to carry out the biddings of the client. This principle has even been seconded by the
Apex Court in the case of O.P. Sharma &Ors. v. High Court of Punjab & Haryana 2wherein it
was opined that, A lawyer cannot be a mere mouthpiece of his clientAn Advocate in a
profession should be diligent and his conduct should also be diligent and conform to the
requirements of the law by which an Advocate plays a vital role in the preservation of society
and justice system. Any violation of the principles of professional ethics by an Advocate is
unfortunate and unacceptable.
Keeping this in mind, below mentioned are the rules laid down by the Bar Council of Indian
for the code of conduct to be maintained by lawyers with their clients and their duties towards
them.
Section II Duty to Clients

2(2011) 5 SCALE 518

11. An Advocate is bound to accept any brief in the Courts or Tribunals or before any other
authority in or before which he proposes to practice at a fee consistent with his standing at the
Bar and the nature of the case. Special circumstances may justify his refusal to accept a
particular brief.
12. An Advocate shall not ordinarily withdraw from engagements, once accepted, without
sufficient cause and unless reasonable and sufficient notice is given to the client. Upon his
withdrawal from a case, he shall refund such part of the fee as has not been earned.
13. An Advocate should not accept a brief or appear in a case in which he has reason to
believe that he will be a witness, and if being engaged in a case, it becomes apparent that he
is a witness on a material question of fact, he should not continueto appear as an Advocate if
he can retire without jeopardizing his clientsinterests.
14. An Advocate shall, at the commencement of his engagement and during the continuance
thereof, make all such full and frank disclosures to his client relating to his connection with
the parties and any interest in or about the controversy as are likely to affect his clients
judgment in either engaging him or continuing the engagement.
15. It shall be the duty of an Advocate, fearlessly to uphold the interests of his client by all
fair and honourable means without regard to any unpleasant consequences to himself or any
other. He shall defend a person accused of a crime regardless of his personal opinion as to the
guilt of the accused, bearing in mind that his loyalty is to the law which requires that no man
should be convicted without adequate evidence.
16. An Advocate appearing for the prosecution of a criminal trial shall so conduct the
prosecution that it does not lead to conviction of the innocent. The suppression of material
capable of establishing the innocence of the accused shall be scrupulously avoided.

17. An Advocate shall not, directly or indirectly, commit a breach of the obligations imposed
by Section 126 of Indian Evidence Act.
18. An Advocate shall not at any time, be a party to fomenting of litigation.
19. An Advocate shall not act on the instructions of any person other than his client or his
authorized agent.
20. An Advocate shall not stipulate for a fee contingent on the results of litigation or agree to
share the proceeds thereof.
21. An Advocate shall not buy or traffic in or stipulate for or agree to receive any share or
interest in any actionable claim. Nothing in this rule shall apply to stock, shares and
debentures or governmental securities, or to any instruments whichare, for the time being, by
law or custom, negotiable or to any mercantiledocument of title to goods.
22. An Advocate shall not, directly or indirectly, bid for or purchase, either in his own name
or in any name, for his own benefit or for the benefit of any other person, any property sold in
the execution of a decree or order in any suit, appeal or other proceeding in which he has I
any way professionally engaged.
23. An Advocate shall not adjust fee payable to him by his clients against his own personal
liability to the client, which liability does not arise in the course of his employment as an
Advocate.
24. An Advocate shall not do anything whereby he abuses or takes advantages of the
confidence reposed in him by his client.
25. An Advocate should keep account of his clientsmoney entrusted to him, and the accounts
should show the amounts received from the client or on his behalf, the expenses incurred for

him and the debits made on account of fees with respective dates and all other necessary
particulars.
26. Where moneys are received from or on account of a client, the entries in the accounts
should contain a reference as to whether the amounts have been receivedfor fees or expenses,
and during the course of the proceedings, no Advocate shall, except with the consent in
writing of the client concerned, be at liberty to divert any portion of expenses toward fees.
27. Where any amount is received or given to him on behalf of his client, the fact of such
receipt must be intimated to the client as early as possible.
28. After the termination of the proceeding, the Advocate shall be at liberty to appropriate
toward the settled fee due to him any sum remaining unexpended out of the normal paid or
sent to him for expenses, or any amount that has come into his hands in that proceedings.
29. Where the fees has been left unsettled, the Advocate shall be entitled to deduct,out of any
moneys of the client remaining in his hands, at the termination of the proceedings for which
he has been engaged, the fee payable under the rules of the Court, in force for the time being,
or by then settled and the balance, if any, shall be refunded to the client.
30. A copy of the clients account shall be furnished to him on demand provided the
necessary copying charge is paid.
31. An Advocate shall not enter into arrangements whereby funds in his hands are converted
into loans.
32. An Advocate shall not lend money to his client for the purpose of any action or legal
proceedings in which he is engaged by such clients.

Explanations-: An Advocate shall not be held guilty for the breach of this rule, if in the course
a pending suit or proceeding, and without any arrangement with the client in respect for the
same, the Advocate feels compelled by reason of the rule of the court to make the payment to
the Court on account of the client for the progress of the suit or proceeding.
33. An Advocate who has, at any time, advised in connection with the institution of the suit,
appeal or other matter or has drawn pleadings or acted for a party, shall not act, appear or
plead for the opposite party.
These are thus the rules that a lawyer must follow when dealing with his/her clients in India.
However, in this paper, we shall only be concentrating on Rules 12 to 22A of Section II. So,
in the next section, Rules 12 to 22A will be explained with the help of case laws.
RULE 12 TO 22A OF THE BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA RULES
1. Rule 12 Rule 12 of the Bar Council of India Rules states that a lawyer must not
withdraw from engagements that have been accepted by him/her unless there is a
reasonable or sufficient cause backing it. In addition, reasonable notice must be given by
the lawyer if such a situation arises. The consequence, however, of withdrawal from an
engagement with a client is that the lawyer must refund that part of the fee collected from
the client for his/her services that hasnt been earned on the date of notice of withdrawal.
In the case of Patel MaganlalDhanjibhai vs Patel LaxmidasNaranbhai3the Gujrat High
Court, in a revision application, had to consider the question as to whether a court must
straightaway accept a lawyers no-instruction purshis application and request for
withdrawal from a case. The Court took the help of Rule 12 of the Bar Council of India
rules to come up with the conclusion that every court may accept such an application and
permit a lawyers withdrawal from a case only after being submitted with a sufficient
3AIR 1988 Guj 48

cause for such withdrawal and that if a reasonable cause is given to the court, it is the
courts duty to investigate into the cause and only upon verifying it, shall permission be
given. In the present case, the lower court failed to investigate the cause for withdrawal
from the case by the lawyer and simply granted acceptance. The Gujrat High Court
quashed and set aside the order of the trial court to do so.
2. Rule 13 This rule states that a lawyer must not accept a brief or appear as an advocate in
any case wherein he/she is of the belief that he/she may be a witness of the very same
case. However, if a lawyer is engaged in a case wherein it becomes apparent that he/she is
witness on a material question of fact, he must try to retire without harming the clients
interests in the case and mustnt appear as the clients lawyer. In the Supreme Court case
of Kokkanda B. PoondachaAndOrs vs K.D. Ganapathi4, the court had to consider whether
the Respondents request to list the Advocate of the Appellant as a witness for the
respondents in their case, which was accepted by the High Court was right or not. The
Court in their decision, while citing Rule 12 and 13 of the Bar Council of India Rules
(Part VI, Chapter II) held that, If the prayer made by the respondents for being allowed
to cite Shri N. Ravindranath Kamath as a witness is critically scrutinised in the backdrop
of the above noted statement on the duties of an advocate towards his client, we have no
hesitation to hold that the same was not only misconceived but was mischievous exfacieThe concerned advocate was engaged by the plaintiffs-appellants in 1996 i.e.
almost 11 years prior to the filing of application by the respondents under Order XVI
Rule 1(1) and (2) read with Section 151 CPC. During this long interregnum, the
respondents never objected to the appearance of Shri N.Ravindranath Kamath as an
advocate of the appellants by pointing out that he was interested in the subject matter of
the suit. Notwithstanding this, the respondents cited him as a witness in the list filed
along with the application. The sole purpose of doing this was to create a situation in
4 2011 (3) CTC 665

which the advocate would have been forced to withdraw from the case. Luckily for the
appellants, the trial Court could see the game plan of the respondents and frustrated their
design by partly dismissing the application. The learned Single Judge ignored that the
respondents had included the name of Shri N. Ravindranath Kamath in the list of
witnesses proposed to be summoned by them with an oblique motive of boarding him out
of the case and passed the impugned order by recording one line observation that the
respondents were not required to give reasons for summoning the particular person as a
witness. The Court thus allowed the appeal and dismissed the order of the Single Judge
Bench of the High Court.
3. Rule 14 This is also known as the disclosure rule. This rule provides that an advocate,
upon commencement of services for client and in the continuance of the engagement,
must make honest and full disclosures to his/her client with respect to the lawyers
connection with any of the parties to the case or anything that would be relevant for the
client to know which is likely to affect the clients judgement in engaging him/her or
continuing to engage him/her as the lawyer. In V. C. Rangaburai v. D. Gopalan5, the Court
discussed the importance of disclosure by a lawyer to the client as given under Rule 14 of
the Bar Council of India Rules and opined that, Counsels paramount duty is to the
client: accordingly where he forms an opinion that a conflict of interest exists, his duty is
to advise the client that he should engage some other lawyer. It is unprofessional to
represent conflicting interests, except be express consent given by all concerned after a
full disclosure of the facts.
4. Rule 15 This rule provides that it is the duty of a lawyer to uphold the interests of the
client without any fear and must be fair and honest when representing the clients
interests. The Rule also provides that the lawyer must be achieve all the interests of the
client through lawful, honourable and fair means and must not bring unpleasant
5Supra at n.1

consequences either to the client or himself/herself. Another quality that a lawyer must
possess when defending his/her client is to keep personal opinion as to the clients guilt or
innocence aside. This is based on the basic legal principle that a person cannot be guilty
until there is adequate and admissible evidence against him/her.
5. Rule 16This rule emphasises on the duty of a lawyer not to supress any material in court
that is capable of establishing the innocence of the accused in any case. Moreover, the
rule also states that it is the duty of an advocate appearing for the prosecution in a
criminal trial to not conduct his case in such a way as to lead to a conviction of the
innocent. This means that a lawyer must not insinuate or conduct himself/herself in any
manner that indicates that the innocent party is, in fact, not.
6. Rule 17 This rule interlinks the Bar Council of India Rules with the Indian Evidence
Act. The rule provides that no lawyer must, directly or indirectly, breach any of his/her
obligations which are imposed upon him/her under Section 126 of the Indian Evidence
Act. It is pertinent to note here that section 126 talks of professional communications and
states that no vakil, pleader, advocate or barrister must disclose any communication,
contents or conditions of any document with which he/she has become acquainted in the
course of his/her professional employment or disclose any advice given by him/her to the
client in the course and for the purpose of employment as such vakil, pleader, advocate or
barrister, unless with the clients express consent. The proviso to this section provides
instances wherein disclosure is permitted.
7. Rule 18 This rule provides that a lawyer must never be a party that stirs up or instigates
any litigation proceedings. This would go against his/her professional ethics and would be
a breach of the code of conduct.
8. Rule 19 This rule highlights the relationship between an advocate and his/her client. The
rule imposes a duty upon a lawyer to act only on the instructions of his/her client or the
clients authorised agent, but no other person. This is to ensure that there is no situation of
wrongful disclosure of material information of the client by the Advocate.

9. Rule 20 This rule lays down that a lawyer mustnt indulge in any agreement that
stipulates a fee which is contingent on the results of the litigation proceedings or one to
share the proceeds of the litigation result with the client. The Kerala High Court, in the
case of P.S.Vasavan Pillai vs K.B.Balakrishna Pillai6held that, It is the privilege of the
Bar and indeed their duty to press their clients cases strenuously and to the best of their
ability. But he cannot and should not identify himself too much with his client. A lawyer
who becomes personally interested in the subject matter of the suit is no better than the
litigant himself and becomes a litigant masquerading as a lawyer in professional robes.
Such types of agreements are highly reprehensible and have been unanimously
contemned and amount to taking in due advantage of the clientThe purport of Rule 20
is to insist that the lawyer should not forsake the etiquette and ethics of his profession. A
lawyer making agreements to share the profits of litigation would even be inclined to
misguide the client to agree to compromises and a client not being an expert in legal
technicalities would be led by his advocate. It appears that the lawyer in the instant case
did not learn his lessons although in a previous matter he got snubbed for a similar type
of conduct This was a case wherein an advocate, conducted a case for his client at his
own cost and charged the fee by making an agreement to share a part of the subject matter
of the litigation. The Court said such agreements were impermissible and reprimanded the
lawyer for such misconduct.
10. Rule 21 This rule is with regards to actionable claims and provides that an Advocate
must not try to buy or traffic in or stipulate for or agree to receive any share or interest in
such claim. But this rule does not extend to stock, shares and debentures or governmental
securities or any other instruments which are, for the time being, by law or custom,
negotiable or to any mercantile document of title to goods.An actionable claim does not

6CRL A No. 70 of 2000

cease to be served, simply because a suit has been instituted in respect of it. 7It is the duty
of the lawyer who purchases such actionable claim to prove thatthe purchase does not
amount to a conflict of interest and unprofessional conduct. In the case of Sheo Narayan
Lal v. Mir Amjad Ali,a lawyer purchased specific property which was to be the subject
matter of the litigation in the name of some third person. The suit was instituted in the
name of the third person and the lawyer not only appeared in and conducted this case but
also took his fee which he taxed against the defendants despite the fact that in reality, he
was the plaintiff. The Court held him guilty of professional misconduct.
11. Rule 22 As per Rule 22 of the Bar Council of India Rules, a lawyer must not, directly or
indirectly bid for or purchase any property which is sold in the execution of a decree or
order in any suit, appeal or proceedings where he/she is professionally engaged as an
advocate in, be it in his/her own name or in any name, for his/her own benefit or for the
benefit of any other person.
12. Rule 22A This rule relates to the property which is the subject matter of any court
proceeding. The rule lays down that an advocate must not, directly or indirectly, bid in
court auction, acquire by way of sale, gift or exchange or any other mode of transfer, such
aforementioned property where he is professionally engaged in such proceedings,
whether in his/her name or in the name of any other person but for his/her benefit. It is
thus his duty not to have anything to do with property that is the subject matter of any suit
or appeal.
Case for Rule 22 & 22A - In P. D. Gupta v. Rammurti8, the Court held an advocate guilty for
professional misconduct because the advocate his clients property from him, which was the
subject matter of a pending suit in the Court, thereby creating a conflict between interest and
7 Conflict between Interest and Duties of a Lawyer by
AmanjotMalhi;http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l241-Conflict-between-Interest-and-Dutiesof-a-Lawyer-.html
8[1997] INSC 574

duty [Rule 22]. The Court affirmed the decision of the lower court which sentenced the
advocate to a one year bar from practicing his profession.
LAWYERS DUTY TO CLIENT: INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON
This section will look at the duties of a lawyer to his/her clients in Australia and USA. In
countries which follow common law, a lawyer is imposed with the duty to be skilful and
careful. If the advocate fails to fulfil his/her obligations, he/she shall be held liable to the
client under:a. Law of Contracts Breach of Contract
b. Law of Torts Professional Negligence
Furthermore, the lawyer must inform the client of every single thing that will assist the client
in his case and the lawyer, with respect to his/her retainer.
Australia
The duties of a lawyer towards his clients in Australia are laid down by the Law Society of
South Australiain theirAustralian Solicitors Conduct Rules. Within these model rules, the
main provisions relating to a lawyers relationship with his/her client are as follows:1. Rule 7 Communication of Advice
2.Rule 8 Client Instructions
3. Rule 9 Confidentiality
4. Rule 10 Conflicts concerning former clients
5. Rule 11 Conflicts of duties concerning current clients
6. Rule 12 Conflict concerning a solicitors own interests
7. Rule 13 Completion of termination of engagement
8. Rule 14 Client Documents

9. Rule 15 Lien over essential documents

10. Rule 16 Charging for document Storage
11. Rule 16A Legal Assistance
The Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules were adopted by the Law Council of Australia on
18th June 2011 and these rules form uniform professional conduct rules for the lawyers of
their country. Unlike India, in Australia, more importance is given to duty of a lawyer
towards a clients documents, its treatment, storage etc. Moreover, in the Australian rules,
more emphasis is laid on conflict of duties and interests of lawyers with respect to clients.
USA
In United States of America, the law relating to lawyers changes from state to state. However,
one of the universally accepted rules for professional conduct among USA lawyers is laid
down by the American Bar Association in their Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Rule
1.7).This rule has been adopted by several states in USA especially the District of Columbia,
Delaware. The ABA has gone a step ahead and adopted an express "thrust upon"9 exception
to the general prohibition against simultaneously representing two clients whose interests are
directly adverse.
Model Rule 1.7 lays down the following:"(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a lawyer shall not represent a client if the
representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest. A concurrent conflict of interest
exists if: (1) the representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client; or (2)
there is a significant risk that the representation of one or more clients will be materially

9"Thrust upon" conflicts are defined as conflicts between two clients that (1) did not exist at the time either
representation commenced, but arose only during the ongoing representation of both clients, where
(2) the conflict was not reasonably foreseeable at the outset of the representation,
(3) the conflict arose through no fault of the lawyer, and
(4) the conflict is of a type that is capable of being waived but one of the clients will not consent to the dual
representation.

limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to another client, a former client or a third person or
by a personal interest of the lawyer. (b) Notwithstanding the existence of a concurrent
conflict of interest under paragraph (a), a lawyer may represent a client if: ... (4) each
affected client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing."
ABA has created New Rules and these took effect on 1 st February, 2007. The rules are as
follows:(a) A lawyer shall not advance two or more adverse positions in the same matter.
(b) Except as permitted by paragraph (c) below, a lawyer shall not represent a client with
respect to a matter if:
(1) That matter involves a specific party or parties and a position to be taken by that client in
that matter is adverse to a position taken or to be taken by another client in the same matter
even though that client is unrepresented or represented by a different lawyer;
(2) Such representation will be or is likely to be adversely affected by representation of
another client;
(3) Representation of another client will be or is likely to be adversely affected by such
representation;
(4) The lawyer's professional judgment on behalf of the client will be or reasonably may be
adversely affected by the lawyer's responsibilities to or interests in a third party or the
lawyer's own financial, business, property, or personal interests.
(c) A lawyer may represent a client with respect to a matter in the circumstances described in
paragraph (b) above if each potentially affected client provides consent to such
representation after full disclosure of the existence and nature of the possible conflict and the
possible adverse consequences of such representation.
(d) If a conflict not reasonably foreseeable at the outset of representation arises under
paragraph (b)(1) after the representation commences, and is not waived under paragraph

(c), lawyer need not withdraw from any representation unless the conflict also arises under
paragraphs (b)(2), (b)(3), or (b)(4).
Apart from this, there are several codes of conduct that each state in USA provides for the
lawyers within their state. These rules are tailor made to meet the needs of state laws. One
such code is the New York Code of Professional Responsibility. Under this code, it has been
provided that a lawyer cannot represent multiple clients, "If the exercise of independent
professional judgment on behalf of a client will be or is likely to be adversely affected by the
lawyer's representation of another client, or if it would be likely to involve the lawyer in
representing differing interests, unless the conflict is capable of being, and is, consented
to.
This is thus a brief look into the lawyers duty to clients in United States of America.
CONCLUSION
It would be apt to conclude this paper with a quote by Justice Tongue:It is never proper for a lawyer to represent clients with conflicting interest no matter how
carefully and thoroughly the lawyer discloses the possible effects and obtains consents.
A lawyer must ensure that, at the end of the day, under any circumstance, they mustnt cross
the fine line that takes a lawyer from doing his duty for his client to being in conflict with his
clients and courts interest.