Module 4
Duties, clients and conflicts: the rules that make a lawyer a lawyer
A lawyer is not just a person who knows the law. A lawyer is a person who has accepted a set of duties, and who can lose the right to practise by breaking them. The duties are broadly similar across the world, though the wording and the detail differ. They tell you what you owe to your client, to the court, to the public and to the profession, and they explain much of what seems strange about practice: why lawyers ask so many questions before they act, why they will not tell you what another client said and why they sometimes refuse a job. This module sets out the main duties, shows how conflicts of interest are checked, and ends with what to do when you make a mistake, as every lawyer eventually does. The rules where you practise will be written and enforced by your own regulator; read them.
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See what is included in All-Access →General education on the work of a practising lawyer across legal systems, using invented people and firms. It is not legal or career advice. Professional rules, titles, routes to qualification and the limits of reserved work differ between countries and change: check the rules that apply to you with your regulator.
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