Rule 24 Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners
Rule 24 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (RPC) 2023 is about Responsibility for litigation. It is under Part II (Relation with Clients) of Chapter 1 (Conduct) of the Rules. It provides as follows:
(1) A lawyer shall accept any brief in the Court in which he professes to practice, provided the proper professional fee is offered, unless there are special circumstances which justify his refusal.
(2) It is the responsibility of a lawyer to decide what cases he will bring into court for the Plaintiff and what cases he would contest in court for the Defendant.
(3) A lawyer is not absolved from bringing questionable action, arguing questionable defences or giving questionable advice on the ground that he is only following his client’s instructions.
(4) A lawyer shall not conduct a civil case or make defence in a civil case when he knows or ought reasonably to know that it is intended merely to harass or to injure the opposite party or to work oppression or wrong.
(5) A lawyer shall be responsible for taking decisions in respect of incidental matters not affecting the merit of the case or operating to prejudice substantively the right of a client and he shall not be bound to do or refrain from doing anything contrary to his sense of honour or propriety simply because his client demands that he should do it.
(6) In matters not directly affecting the merit of a case or operating to prejudice the rights of the client, the lawyer may, to the exclusion of his client, determine the accommodation to be granted to the opposing lawyer.
(7) For the purpose of this rule, the expression “incidental matters” includes matters such as fixing time for trial for the opposing lawyer, and applying for or resisting adjournment, account being taken of the circumstances of the opposing lawyer.
