About the event

Bookings are now closed

Please note this Seminar is no longer taking place in person. 

The conscientious observance of the duties of honesty and candour with the court is fundamental to the effective administration of justice.

The duty of honesty and candour is not diminished when lawyers are dealing with courts in their personal capacity. The duty applies notwithstanding youth or inexperience, and it applies notwithstanding that the lawyer may have suffered traumatic and distressing events and notwithstanding that the lawyer is under great stress.

Breach of the duty of honesty and candour may give rise to a finding that a practitioner lacks the qualities of character essential for the practice of law, which have been described as a commitment to honesty and candour irrespective of self-interest or embarrassment.

Practitioners also have a duty to be honest and candid with the Legal Practice Board and the Legal Profession Complaints Committee. Compliance with that duty is necessary to support the regulatory functions that are undertaken by those bodies for the protection of the public.

The Society’s Ethics Committee has noted recent decisions and published orders in a number of disciplinary matters that involve breaches of the duty of honesty and candour, and has resolved to arrange this seminar in order to address the nature, content and importance of compliance with the duty.

This seminar will be of value to both junior and senior practitioners, managing partners/directors and educators.

The Honourable Justice Quinlan, Chief Justice of Western Australia, will address the matter from the perspective of the judiciary, Paul Donovan, director of MDS Legal and Law Society Ethics Committee member, will summarise recent decisions considered by the Ethics Committee, and Law Complaints Officer Russell Daily will address the matter from the regulators’ perspective. The seminar will be chaired by Fiona Stanton, Barrister at Francis Burt Chambers and Chair of the Law Society’s Ethics Committee.

Level: General

Please note this Seminar is no longer taking place in person.