What is the “true” duty of a solicitor?
Alberta, Canada
The following excerpt is from Graham v. Bonnycastle, 2004 ABCA 270 (CanLII):
The “true” duty of a solicitor lies solely to the client’s best interests. As Megarry, V.C. pointed out in Ross v. Caunters, supra, (at p. 599), that duty is not invariably in conflict with the solicitor’s duty to a third party: “... there is merely a duty, owed to him as well as the client, to use proper care in carrying out the client’s instructions for conferring the benefit on the third party. ... The duty that I hold to exist in the present case, far from diluting the solicitor’s duty to his client, marches with it, and if anything, strengthens it. ...”
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