§ discipline

No personal opinion or familiarity with court court

The lawyer must not put a personal opinion of the facts or law to the court unless invited or required, nor deal with the court on terms of personal familiarity suggesting special favour.

12 cases 0% strike-off

How the codes express this duty

E&W Solicitors SRA Principles & Code no clear equivalent
E&W Barristers BSB Handbook rC7.4 strong 2 cases
rC7.4 you must not put forward to the court a personal opinion of the facts or the law unless you are invited or required to do so by the court or by law.

BSB Handbook · current · archived copy · official source ↗

Cayman Islands Legal Services Code 2026 R.2.5(d) strong
put forward to the Court a personal opinion of the facts or the law unless invited or required to do so by the Court or by law

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

AU Solicitors Solicitors' Conduct Rules Rules 17.3; 18.1 strong 7 cases
17.3 A solicitor must not make submissions or express views to a court on any material evidence or issue in the case in terms which convey or appear to convey the solicitor's personal opinion on the merits of that evidence or issue. 18.1 A solicitor must not, in the presence of any of the parties or solicitors, deal with a court on terms of informal personal familiarity which may reasonably give the appearance that the solicitor has special favour with the court.

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

AU Barristers Uniform Barristers Rules rr43-44 strong 1 case
A barrister must not make submissions or express views to a court on any material evidence or issue in the case in terms which convey or appear to convey the barrister's personal opinion on the merits of that evidence or issue. A barrister must not in the presence of any of the parties or solicitors deal with a court on terms of informal personal familiarity which may reasonably give the appearance that the barrister has special favour with the court.

Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules · 2015 (as amended 14 May 2025) · archived copy · official source ↗

IE Solicitors Law Society Guide Ch5 — The solicitor advocate, para 5 partial
The advocate should never allow their personal feelings to intrude upon their task as an advocate. They should always act with due courtesy not only towards the court but also towards their opponent and all concerned in the case.

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

IE Barristers Bar Code of Conduct Rule 5.17 strong
Barristers when conducting a case must not assert their personal opinion of the facts or the law unless expressly invited to do so by the court or required to do so by law.

Code of Conduct for the Bar of Ireland · 2024 · archived copy · official source ↗

JM Attorneys Canons of Professional Ethics Canon V(j) strong
An Attorney shall endeavour always to maintain his position as an Advocate and shall not either in argument to the Court or in address to the jury assert his personal belief in his client's innocence or in the justice of his cause or his personal knowledge as to any of the facts involved in the matter under investigation.

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

JE Lawyers Law Society of Jersey Code R.3.5 d) strong
Members must not: ... d) put forward to the court a personal opinion of the facts or the law unless they are invited or required to do so by the court or by law.

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

ON Lawyers LSO Rules of Prof. Conduct r 5.1-1 commentary [5]; r 5.1-2(c) strong
[5] A lawyer should refrain from expressing the lawyer's personal opinions on the merits of a client's case to a court or tribunal. ... 5.1-2(c) [a lawyer shall not] appear before a judicial officer when the lawyer, the lawyer's associates or the client have business or personal relationships with the officer that give rise to or might reasonably appear to give rise to pressure, influence, or inducement affecting the impartiality of the officer, unless all parties consent and it is in the interests of justice

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

BC Lawyers BC Code r 2.1-2(c) strong
A lawyer should not attempt to deceive a court or tribunal by offering false evidence or by misstating facts or law and should not, either in argument to the judge or in address to the jury, assert a personal belief in an accused's guilt or innocence, in the justice or merits of the client's cause or in the evidence tendered before the court.

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

NZ Lawyers Conduct & Client Care Rules r 13.5.4 strong
A lawyer must not make submissions or express views to a court on any material evidence or material issue in a case in terms that convey or appear to convey the lawyer's personal opinion on the merits of that evidence or issue.

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 9 (Conduct of proceedings) partial 2 cases
9 Conduct of proceedings

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

HK Solicitors Solicitors' Guide Principle 10.14 Commentary 1 partial
The prosecutor should state all relevant facts and should limit his expressions of opinion to those fairly required to present his case.

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

HK Barristers Bar Code of Conduct para 10.33 strong
A practising barrister must not, when conducting his case, assert his personal opinion of the facts or the law to the Court unless invited by the Court to do so.

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

Cases dealing with this duty

Clear

12 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.