PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILTY

Professional Responsibility



Professional Responsibility

Introduction

This paper analyses the problem of liability lawyer, especially when it refers to the configuration of the damage. For it is part of both the norm as the doctrinal interpretations, also studied the case law criteria sitting in the resolution of cases, more numerous, which have been raising in recent years. It is argued an opinion critical of the legal doctrine of the Supreme Court majority has the configuration when the damage to the slippery terrain of moral damages.

Background of the Case

Jake Stevens is a relatively recently admitted solicitor, working in Scullard's Lawyers, a small firm of 12 solicitors in an affluent suburb. His principal is Silas Rogers, a solicitor of 25 years' experience.

Scullards is retained to represent Hiram Johnson, who was injured in a fall at work, and has suffered serious injuries which preclude his working at his usual occupation of carpenter. Johnson has had limited formal education, but even with retraining, his injuries place significant limitations on his capacity to work. Johnson's employer, Super-Carp, is denying liability. Jake's primary field of expertise is in criminal law, which he practices mostly in the Magistrates and District Courts. He appears himself in the Magistrates Court, but generally instructs counsel in matters being heard before a jury. The majority of work on Johnson's file is carried out by Jake, with some further work carried out by paralegals in the Scullards office. Silas Rogers has not himself done any of the work on the matter, except to sign letters which have been exchanged between Scullards and the defendants, SuperCarp.

Just before Scullards were retained in the Johnson-SuperCarp matter, Jake's girlfriend, Louisa May, has been injured at work herself, and Jake had offered to help her in trying to recover damages from her employer, Heads'R'Us, although he has not entered into a formal retainer or told Silas Rogers. As he is not particularly familiar with workplace injury law, he has done considerable research into legislation and caselaw regarding workplace injuries for Louisa May which has also been relevant to Johnson's file, and the time is billed to Johnson.

One Friday night, rather than going home, he goes out on the town. Late in the evening, at Zeno's Bar, he meets a young woman, Angela Crane, who begins to flirt with him, telling him that she is a lawyer. Both Jake and Angela have had quite a few drinks, and Angela begins to tell Jake about a current case she is handling (although she does not mention it by name). It involves an employer and “some idiot carpenter” who fell over at work. Jake, being drunk, does not immediately see the connection, and continues to listen to Angela, who tells him that the employer had received complaints about the workplace, predicting an accident of the nature of that befallen by Johnson. She also says that she thinks the employer “ought to lose them', as they would be damaging to the employer's case.

Prior to trial, a settlement conference is held for the ...