FLK1 · SQE1 module
Legal Services
This subject is tested through ethical dilemmas rather than abstract rules: a short scenario, and a question about what a solicitor is permitted or required to do.
The SRA Principles and the requirement to act in the best interests of each client are the anchor points most questions are built around.
What this module covers
- The SRA Principles and their application to conduct scenarios
- Client care, conflicts of interest and confidentiality
- Regulation of legal services and the different legal professions
- Money laundering and financial crime obligations
A real question from this module
Try it before you decide
FLK1 · Legal Services
Question
A solicitor is asked to act for a client purchasing a business. The solicitor’s spouse is the seller and stands to receive the sale proceeds personally. Both the buyer and seller are sophisticated commercial parties who are content for the same firm to act, and no confidential information is at risk. What must the solicitor do?
- ADecline to act, since this is an own-interest conflict that cannot be managed by consent or barriers
- BAct for the client, provided both parties give informed written consent to the arrangement in advance
- CAct for the client, provided an information barrier is put in place between the solicitor and the file
- DDecline to act only if the transaction later becomes contentious between the buyer and the seller
- EAct for the client, provided a different fee earner within the same firm handles the seller’s side
Show the answer and why
Answer A
Where a solicitor’s own interest, or that of someone closely connected to them, conflicts with a client’s interest on the same matter, this is an own-interest conflict. Unlike a conflict between two clients, an own-interest conflict of this kind cannot be managed through consent, an information barrier, or a different fee earner acting. The solicitor, and generally the firm, must decline to act, regardless of how sophisticated the parties are or whether the matter later becomes contentious.
SRA Standards and Regulations 2019, SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, own-interest conflicts.