§ discipline

Act in the client's best interests client

The lawyer must fearlessly promote and protect each client's best interests by all proper and lawful means, without regard to their own interests or adverse consequences to themselves.

630 cases 69% strike-off avg suspension 20.8 mo avg fine 29,299 182 with dishonesty finding

How the codes express this duty

E&W Solicitors SRA Principles & Code Principle 7 strong 558 cases
You act: 1.7 in the best interests of each client.

SRA Principles · 2023 · archived copy · official source ↗

E&W Barristers BSB Handbook CD2; rC15.1; rC15.2; rC15.3 strong 8 cases
CD2 You must act in the best interests of each client. rC15 ... .1 you must promote fearlessly and by all proper and lawful means the client's best interests; .2 you must do so without regard to your own interests or to any consequences to you ...; .3 you must do so without regard to the consequences to any other person (whether to your professional client, employer or any other person);

BSB Handbook · current · archived copy · official source ↗

Cayman Islands Legal Services Code 2026 P.4; R.6.1(a) strong
Attorneys-at-law shall act in the best interests of their clients... promote fearlessly, and by all proper and lawful means, the client's best interests without regard to — (i) the attorney-at-law's own interests or to any consequences to the attorney-at law; (ii) the consequences to any other person

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

AU Solicitors Solicitors' Conduct Rules Rule 4.1.1 strong 13 cases
A solicitor must also: 4.1.1 act in the best interests of a client in any matter in which the solicitor represents the client.

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

AU Barristers Uniform Barristers Rules r37 strong 2 cases
A barrister must promote and protect fearlessly and by all proper and lawful means the client's best interests to the best of the barrister's skill and diligence, and do so without regard to his or her own interest or to any consequences to the barrister or to any other person.

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

IE Solicitors Law Society Guide Ch5 — General (relationship with the court), para (a) strong
Should promote and protect by all proper and lawful means, without fear or favour, the client's best interests.

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

IE Barristers Bar Code of Conduct Rule 2.6; Rule 3.1 strong
Barristers must promote and protect fearlessly and by all proper and lawful means their client's best interests and do so without regard to their own interest or to any consequences for themselves or to any other person including fellow members of the legal profession.

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

JM Attorneys Canons of Professional Ethics Canon IV; Canon IV(c) strong 28 cases
AN ATTORNEY SHALL ACT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF HIS CLIENT AND REPRESENT HIM HONESTLY, COMPETENTLY AND ZEALOUSLY WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW. ... (c) An Attorney shall exercise independent judgment within the bounds of the law and the ethics of the profession for the benefit of his client.

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

JE Lawyers Law Society of Jersey Code P.4; R.5.1 a)-b) strong
Members must act in the best interests of their clients... Members must: a) promote fearlessly, and by all proper and lawful means, the client's best interests; b) do so without regard to their own interests or to any consequences to them.

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 [1]; r 3.4-1 commentary [2] strong
In adversarial proceedings, the lawyer has a duty to the client to raise fearlessly every issue, advance every argument and ask every question, however distasteful, that the lawyer thinks will help the client's case and to endeavour to obtain for the client the benefit of every remedy and defence authorized by law. [3.4-1 cmt 2: the law imposes other duties on the lawyer, particularly the duty of loyalty. The duty of confidentiality, the duty of candour and the duty of commitment to the client's cause are aspects of the duty of loyalty.]

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

BC Lawyers BC Code r 2.1-3(e) strong 1 case
A lawyer should endeavour by all fair and honourable means to obtain for a client the benefit of any and every remedy and defence that is authorized by law. The lawyer must, however, steadfastly bear in mind that this great trust is to be performed within and not without the bounds of the law.

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

NZ Lawyers Conduct & Client Care Rules r 6 strong
In acting for a client, a lawyer must, within the bounds of the law and these rules, protect and promote the interests of the client to the exclusion of the interests of third parties.

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

SCO Solicitors LSS Standards of Conduct B1.4 strong 21 cases
You must act in the best interests of your clients subject to preserving your independence and complying with the law, these rules and the principles of good professional conduct.

Law Society of Scotland — Practice Rules 2011, Rule B1 (Standards of Conduct) · 2011 · archived copy · official source ↗

SG Lawyers Professional Conduct Rules 2015 r 4(b) partial
A legal practitioner’s duty to the legal practitioner’s client is subject only to the legal practitioner’s duty to the court, and must at all times be fulfilled in a manner that upholds the standing and integrity of the Singapore legal system and the legal profession in Singapore.

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

HK Solicitors Solicitors' Guide Principle 7.02 / r 2(c) Solicitors' Practice Rules strong
A solicitor must act in the best interest of his client and he must not put himself in a position where his own interests conflict or are likely to conflict with his duty to his client, quasi-client or potential client.

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

HK Barristers Bar Code of Conduct para 10.15 strong
A practising barrister must promote and protect fearlessly and by all proper and lawful means the lay client's best interests and do so without regard to his own interests or to any consequences to himself or to any other person (including any professional client or other intermediary or another barrister).

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

Cases dealing with this duty

Clear

630 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.