The duty in context
Supervise staff and delegated work practice
The lawyer must reasonably supervise the staff and practitioners providing legal services, ensure they are competent, and remain professionally responsible for delegated work.
How the codes express this duty
E&W Solicitors SRA Principles & Code CCS 3.5; CCS 3.6; CCF 4.4 strong 84 cases
3.5 Where you supervise or manage others providing legal services: (a) you remain accountable for the work carried out through them; and (b) you effectively supervise work being done for clients. 3.6 You ensure that the individuals you manage are competent to carry out their role ... 4.4 You have an effective system for supervising clients' matters.
SRA Code of Conduct for Firms · 2019 · archived copy · official source ↗
E&W Barristers BSB Handbook rC89.6; gC66; rC20 strong 2 cases
rC89 ... you must take reasonable steps to ensure that: ... .6 all non-authorised persons working in your chambers ... .a are competent to carry out their duties; .b carry out their duties in a correct and efficient manner; gC66 You are responsible for the service provided by all those who represent you in your dealings with your client, including your clerks or any other employees or agents.
BSB Handbook · current · archived copy · official source ↗
Cayman Islands Legal Services Code 2026 R.1.1; R.8.5 strong
An attorney-at-law or a recognised law entity shall ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place for the effective supervision of qualified and unqualified staff. These arrangements shall include the regular checking of the quality of work by suitably competent and experienced people
Cayman Islands Legal Services Code of Professional Conduct · 2026 · archived copy
AU Solicitors Solicitors' Conduct Rules Rule 37.1 strong 13 cases
A solicitor with designated responsibility for a matter must exercise reasonable supervision over solicitors and all other employees engaged in the provision of the legal services for that matter.
Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules · 2015 (June 2026 compilation) · archived copy · official source ↗
AU Barristers Uniform Barristers Rules r107(a) partial 2 cases
A barrister will not have breached Rule 16 by carrying out a specific task of research or chamber work given to the barrister by another barrister, or by giving such a task to another barrister, so long as: (a) the barrister who was briefed to do the chamber work takes full personal responsibility for the work.
Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules · 2015 (as amended 14 May 2025) · archived copy · official source ↗
IE Solicitors Law Society Guide Ch9 — Supervision of the solicitor's office: General; In-house duty of supervision strong
A solicitor may delegate work to their staff in such manner as they consider appropriate. However, a solicitor will not escape responsibility for work carried out in their office by delegating the relevant matter to the staff employed by them... An in-house and public-sector solicitor should supervise staff for whom that solicitor is responsible. The solicitor is professionally responsible for all acts of their staff.
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 no clear equivalent
JE Lawyers Law Society of Jersey Code R.7.5; R.7.6 strong
Members and their firms must ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place for the effective supervision of qualified and unqualified staff. Such arrangements must include the regular checking of the quality of work by suitably competent and experienced people so that clients' matters are properly supervised.
Law Society of Jersey Code of Conduct · 1 January 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗
ON Lawyers LSO Rules of Prof. Conduct r 6.1-1 strong
A lawyer shall in accordance with the by-laws (a) assume complete professional responsibility for their practice of law, and (b) directly supervise non-lawyers to whom particular tasks and functions are assigned.
Law Society of Ontario — Rules of Professional Conduct · current · archived copy · official source ↗
BC Lawyers BC Code r 6.1-1 strong 5 cases
A lawyer has complete professional responsibility for all business entrusted to him or her and must directly supervise staff and assistants to whom the lawyer delegates particular tasks and functions.
Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia (BC Code) · 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗
NZ Lawyers Conduct & Client Care Rules r 11.1 strong
A lawyer practising on their own account must take all reasonable steps to ensure that— (a) the operation of the law practice ... is at all times competently supervised and managed by a lawyer ...; and (b) the conduct of all persons engaged or employed by the law practice is at all times competently supervised and managed by a lawyer practising on their own account.
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 32 (Responsibility for staff of law practice) strong 4 cases
32 Responsibility for staff of law practice
Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules 2015 · 2015 · archived copy · official source ↗
HK Solicitors Solicitors' Guide Principle 2.04 / Principle 2.03 strong
Solicitors shall ensure that every office where they or their firms practise is and can reasonably be seen to be supervised and managed in accordance with rules 4A and 4B of the Solicitors' Practice Rules. ... A principal is prima facie responsible for the acts or omissions of his firm and this extends to the acts or omissions of his partners and staff.
Hong Kong Solicitors' Guide to Professional Conduct (Volume 1) · current · archived copy · official source ↗
HK Barristers Bar Code of Conduct para 3.5 partial
a barrister is responsible for any acts or omissions by his clerk or any employee, intern or student when acting on his behalf.
Code of Conduct of the Bar of the Hong Kong SAR · 2018 · archived copy · official source ↗
Cases dealing with this duty
112 decisions · link basis: found breached = a tribunal finding; rule cited = the mapped provision is cited in the decision; text match = high-precision text pattern
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C H M Robson & Another
Breaches, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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N A Faniyi
Failures, Others
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Lander, John
1. The Law Practice, of which the Solicitor is the sole principal, has breached Sections 264 and 274 of the Legal Profession Act 2004 and by virtue of the provisions of section 250 of the said Act, the Solicitor is resp…
Suspension of Practising Certificate $0.00 About About the OLSC The Commissioner History Mission statement Structure Contact Contact the OLSC Give us your feedback: online surveys Access to information (GIPAA) Community information Information for lawyers Fact sheets FAQs Other regulatory and complaint-handling organisations Contact LawAccess NSW for legal information " You and Your Lawyer", Hot Topics 78 Legal Information Access Centre (LIAC), State Library of NSW , provides access to information about the law in NSW regarding your lawyer Privacy Copyright and Disclaimer Website accessibility View decision -
Derek John Leonard
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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S Dhama & Others
Breaches, Client Money, Delays, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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Robert Offord
Others
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Thomas Ofordire Egole
Breaches, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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J C Barber & G H Cartain
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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M J Ashraf & 2 Others
Breaches, Criminal Convictions, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Julian Anthony Norton Heron
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Vanessa Glover
Client Money, Delays, Failures
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Christopher John Thorley
Breaches, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Christopher Elliot Cleaver Thomas
Breaches, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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U Bajela, C Collison, S Tackie-Oblie, F Anafi
Client Money, Criminal Convictions, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Stephen Anthony John-Cyrus
Others
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A Z K Khattak and Another
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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Jane Elizabeth Loveday
Client Money, Delays, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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Barry Luke Damian Young
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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Wishwa Ellepola
Breaches, Client Money, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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C C Okirie and O Okenla
Client Money, Failures, Others
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JOHN CONNOR BENARI
Unprofessional Conduct
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Purcell Robert Michael Brown
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Christopher Charles Gibbons
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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Jeremy Michael Wolff & Another
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Others
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.