The duty in context
Not misrepresent regulated status profession
The lawyer must not hold out an unregulated business or person as regulated, and must take reasonable steps to prevent clients wrongly believing a third party is regulated.
How the codes express this duty
E&W Solicitors SRA Principles & Code CCS 8.10; CCS 5.4 strong 173 cases
8.10 You ensure that clients understand whether and how the services you provide are regulated. This includes: ... (c) ensuring that you do not represent any business or employer which is not authorised by the SRA, including any separate business, as being regulated by the SRA.
SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs · 2019 · archived copy · official source ↗
E&W Barristers BSB Handbook rC83; rC84; rC19.4 strong 5 cases
rC83 If you refer a client to a third party which is not a BSB authorised person or an authorised (non-BSB) person, you must take reasonable steps to ensure that the client is not wrongly led to believe that the third party is subject to regulation by the Bar Standards Board or by another approved regulator. rC84 You must not have a material commercial interest in any organisation which gives the impression of being, or may be reasonably perceived as being, subject to the regulation of the Bar Standards Board ... where it is not so regulated.
BSB Handbook Part 2: Code of Conduct · 5.0 · archived copy · official source ↗
Cayman Islands Legal Services Code 2026 no clear equivalent
AU Solicitors Solicitors' Conduct Rules Rule 39.1 partial 20 cases
the solicitor, or law practice... must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the client is clearly informed about the nature and the terms of the services being provided to the client by the solicitor or law practice, including (if applicable) that the services provided by the other entity are not provided by solicitor or the law practice as legal services.
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 Ch9 — The solicitor as agent for an institution partial 22 cases
If a solicitor holds an agency for an institution, the office of the solicitor should be clearly seen to be the office of a solicitor and not a branch of the organisation from whom the solicitor holds the agency.
Solicitor's Guide to Professional Conduct (Law Society of Ireland) · 4th ed. (2022) · archived copy · official source ↗
IE Barristers Bar Code of Conduct Rule 2.10 partial 22 cases
Barristers shall not abuse the title Barrister-at-Law or where applicable Senior Counsel, but this rule shall not prohibit the disclosure of their professional qualification by Barristers in a manner consistent with the Code and any instrument made under the Code.
Code of Conduct for the Bar of Ireland · 2024 · archived copy · official source ↗
JM Attorneys Canons of Professional Ethics Canon II(a) partial 6 cases
An Attorney shall not hold out any person (not qualified to practise as a lawyer) as a partner, associate consultant or Attorney.
Legal Profession (Canons of Professional Ethics) Rules · 1978 (principal) · archived copy · official source ↗
JE Lawyers Law Society of Jersey Code no clear equivalent
ON Lawyers LSO Rules of Prof. Conduct r 4.2-1.1; r 6.1-1 commentary [5.1] strong
4.2-1.1 A lawyer marketing legal services shall specifically identify in all marketing materials that they are licensed as a lawyer. [6.1-1 cmt 5.1: A lawyer should ensure that the non-lawyer is identified as such when communicating orally or in writing with clients, licensees, public officials, or with the public generally.]
Law Society of Ontario — Rules of Professional Conduct · current · archived copy · official source ↗
BC Lawyers BC Code r 4.2-8 strong 12 cases
A lawyer must not list a person not entitled to practise law in British Columbia on any letterhead or in any other marketing activity without making it clear in the marketing activity that the person is not entitled to practise law in British Columbia.
Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia (BC Code) · 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗
NZ Lawyers Conduct & Client Care Rules r 2.11 / r 14.13 partial
If a lawyer learns that a person is committing an offence by— ... (c) providing legal services in breach of any of sections 21, 22, or 23 of the Act (which relate to persons, not being lawyers, engaging in misleading conduct regarding their right or qualifications to practise law)— the lawyer must immediately report the matter to the Law Society ...
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 33 (Descriptions) partial 3 cases
33 Descriptions
Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules 2015 · 2015 · archived copy · official source ↗
HK Solicitors Solicitors' Guide Principle 13.04 partial
No solicitor shall wilfully and knowingly: (a) act as agent in any action or in any matter in bankruptcy for any unqualified person; or (b) permit his name to be made use of in any such action or matter upon the account or for the profit of any unqualified person; or ... (d) do any other act enabling any unqualified person to appear, act or practise in any respect as a solicitor.
Hong Kong Solicitors' Guide to Professional Conduct (Volume 1) · current · archived copy · official source ↗
HK Barristers Bar Code of Conduct no clear equivalent
Cases dealing with this duty
260 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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John A Tobin
In the matter of John A Tobin, solicitor, practising as John A Tobin Solicitors, Level 3 Cornmarket, Robert Street, Limerick, and in the matter of an application by the Law Society of Ireland to the Solicitors Disciplin…
strike_off View decision -
James M Sweeney
In the matter of James M Sweeney, a solicitor formerly practising as James M Sweeney at 14 New Cabra Road, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2011 [3572/DT110/13 and High Court record …
strike_off View decision -
Adrian Andrew Parker
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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A N Other & Matthew Cobley & Andrew Whitaker
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Rajesh Babajee
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Hubert James
Breaches, Failures, Others
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Marie-Garrard Newton
Breaches, Delays, Failures, Others, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Anthony Alabi
Breaches, Failures
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Steven Platts & Another
Breaches, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Dalida Rajeshree Jhugroo
Breaches, Failures
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Philip Crowe
Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Declan McEvoy
In the matter of Declan McEvoy, solicitor, formerly practising as principal of William Early Solicitors, 1 Haymarket, Carlow, and JM McEvoy & Co, Solicitors, The Avenue, Gorey, Co Wexford, and in the matter of the Solic…
strike_off View decision -
Annan (Formerly John Ebenezer Eyeson-Annan), John Ebow
1. Practising as a Migration Agent whilst disqualified from doing so by virtue of a decision of the Migration Agents Review Authority 2. Falsely represented himself to a client as being a Migration Agent without disclos…
Costs Removal of practitioner's name from the Roll of Local Lawyers (08/10/2014 Disciplinary Action) $0.00 View decision -
Denise McNulty
In the matter of Denise McNulty, solicitor, practising as Denise McNulty & Co, Solicitors, Zion Court, Zion Church Grounds, Rathgar, Dublin 6, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2011 [4457/DT113/13 and High C…
conditions View decision -
MA Shah, R Ahmed,
Breaches
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Richard Anthony Barnett & Another
Breaches, Others
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Guy Richard Charles Bailey
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Eve Clare Carlile
Breaches
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Louis Stanley Spragg
Breaches, Failures, Others
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Stephen Paul Kettlewell
Breaches, Others
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Tom Jenkins Merralls
Breaches, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Lundy, John
1. Failed to comply with Clause 74(b) of the Legal Profession Regulation 2005 - notice of closure of a general trust account 2. Failed to comply with Section 274(1) of the Legal Profession Act 2004 ? law practice must h…
Additional Orders made by the Tribunal (see Tribunal decision) Costs Fine Reprimand $3,000.00 View decision -
Patrick McCarthy
In the matter of Patrick McCarthy, solicitor, formerly practising as McCarthy & Co, Second Floor, Building 1000, City Gate, Mahon, Cork, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2011 [7748/DT144/11 and High Court r…
strike_off View decision -
Seamus P McConnell
In the matter of Seamus P McConnell, solicitor, of Tullamore, Co Offaly, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2008 [6626/DT83/11, 6626/DT84/11 and High Court record 2012 no 87SA] Law Society of Ireland (applica…
conditions View decision
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.