§ discipline

Pay instructed practitioners and agents profession

The lawyer is personally responsible for paying the proper fees of counsel, agents and other practitioners they instruct, unless otherwise expressly agreed.

47 cases 53% strike-off 2 with dishonesty finding

How the codes express this duty

E&W Solicitors SRA Principles & Code no clear equivalent
E&W Barristers BSB Handbook rC155 partial
rC155 If in the course of practice you instruct a lawyer of a CCBE State other than the UK to provide legal services on your behalf, you must pay the fees, costs and outlays which are properly incurred by that lawyer (even where the client is insolvent) unless: ...

BSB Handbook · current · archived copy · official source ↗

Cayman Islands Legal Services Code 2026 R.11.5 strong
An attorney-at-law or a recognised law entity that instructs an attorney-at-law or a practitioner in the law of another jurisdiction will be responsible for the payment of the proper fees and disbursements of that other attorney-at-law or practitioner unless otherwise agreed.

Cayman Islands Legal Services Code of Professional Conduct · 2026 · archived copy

AU Solicitors Solicitors' Conduct Rules Rule 35.1 partial 15 cases
If a solicitor instructs a third party on behalf of the client, and the solicitor is not intending to accept personal liability for payment of the third party's fees, the solicitor must advise the third party in advance.

Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules · 2015 (June 2026 compilation) · archived copy · official source ↗

AU Barristers Uniform Barristers Rules no clear equivalent
IE Solicitors Law Society Guide Ch8 — The solicitor's liability for professional fees; Ch11 — Instructing foreign lawyers partial
A solicitor has no personal liability for counsel's fees... A solicitor who has received a fee from a client intended for counsel should pay such fee when it falls due. A solicitor who instructs counsel should use reasonable endeavours to ensure that counsel receives fees that are properly due... if they engage a lawyer in another jurisdiction on behalf of a client, they themselves may be held personally liable for that lawyer's fees.

Solicitor's Guide to Professional Conduct (Law Society of Ireland) · 4th ed. (2022) · archived copy · official source ↗

IE Barristers Bar Code of Conduct no clear equivalent
JM Attorneys Canons of Professional Ethics Canon VI(j) strong
An Attorney who instructs or employs another Attorney to act on behalf of his client, unless otherwise agreed, shall pay the proper fee of such Attorney whether or not he has received payment from his client.

Legal Profession (Canons of Professional Ethics) Rules · 1978 (principal) · archived copy · official source ↗

JE Lawyers Law Society of Jersey Code R.10.5 strong
A member will be personally responsible for paying the proper costs of any agent or other person who is instructed on behalf of the client, unless the member and the person instructed make an express agreement to the contrary or it is otherwise clear that the person instructed is instructed on terms that the member is not so personally responsible.

Law Society of Jersey Code of Conduct · 1 January 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗

ON Lawyers LSO Rules of Prof. Conduct r 7.1-2 strong
A lawyer shall promptly meet financial obligations incurred in the course of practice on behalf of clients unless, before incurring such an obligation, the lawyer clearly indicates in writing to the person to whom it is to be owed that it is not to be a personal obligation.

Law Society of Ontario — Rules of Professional Conduct · current · archived copy · official source ↗

BC Lawyers BC Code r 7.1-2, commentary [1] strong
In order to maintain the honour of the Bar, lawyers have a professional duty (quite apart from any legal liability) to meet financial obligations incurred, assumed or undertaken on behalf of clients, unless, before incurring such an obligation, the lawyer clearly indicates in writing that the obligation is not to be a personal one.

Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia (BC Code) · 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗

NZ Lawyers Conduct & Client Care Rules r 12.2 / r 10.12 strong
Where a lawyer instructs a third party on behalf of a client to render services in the absence of an arrangement to the contrary, the lawyer is personally responsible for payment of the third party's fees, costs, and expenses. ... A lawyer who, acting in a professional capacity, instructs another lawyer must pay the other lawyer's account promptly and in full unless agreement to the contrary is reached ...

Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008 · SR 2008/214 · archived copy · official source ↗

SCO Solicitors LSS Standards of Conduct no clear equivalent
SG Lawyers Professional Conduct Rules 2015 r 7 (Responsibilities of legal practitioners to each other) partial
7 Responsibilities of legal practitioners to each other

Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules 2015 · 2015 · archived copy · official source ↗

HK Solicitors Solicitors' Guide Principle 12.04 / Principle 4.14 strong
In the absence of reasonable excuse a solicitor is personally liable as a matter of professional conduct for the payment of a barrister's proper fees. ... unless there is an agreement to the contrary, a solicitor is personally responsible for paying the proper costs of any professional agent or other person whom he instructs on behalf of his client.

Hong Kong Solicitors' Guide to Professional Conduct (Volume 1) · current · archived copy · official source ↗

HK Barristers Bar Code of Conduct para 6.27(a) strong
It is the duty of a practising barrister who arranges for another practising barrister to undertake work on his behalf ...:- (i) to pay proper financial remuneration for the work done; (ii) to make payment within a reasonable time and in any event within 2 months after the work has been done ...; and (iii) to deal with payment for such work himself and not delegate responsibility to anyone else.

Code of Conduct of the Bar of the Hong Kong SAR · 2018 · archived copy · official source ↗

Cases dealing with this duty

Clear

47 decisions · link basis: found breached = a tribunal finding; rule cited = the mapped provision is cited in the decision; text match = high-precision text pattern

Duty classification does not yet cover every jurisdiction (Ontario, New Zealand and Singapore decisions are indexed but not yet duty-classified), so counts here understate those corpora.