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A Clarion Call to Lawyers to be "Unflinchingly Loyal" to Their Clients

Jeffrey Pinsler

(2007) 19 SAcLJ 231

Abstract:
The High Court has reiterated on several occasions that the advocate and solicitor owes his client the duty of “unflinching loyalty” (the terminology used in Law Society of Singapore v Ahmad Khalis bin Abdul Ghani [2006] 4 SLR 308 at [74] and Law Society of Singapore v Tan Phuay Khiang [2007] SGHC 83 at [62]). In the latter case, which involved the interests of certain persons in the client’s property transaction (the client had been referred to the respondent for this purpose), the High Court warned that an advocate and solicitor who permits his client’s interests to be compromised in any way in such circumstances is liable to be struck off the roll of advocates and solicitors. The case is particularly significant as an admonition to advocates and solicitors in the face of the increasingly common practice of referrals by third parties.