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Can you still trust a solicitor to keep a promise?

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17 September 2021 / John Gould
Issue: 7948 / Categories: Features , Profession , Regulatory
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When is an undertaking not an undertaking? John Gould reports on the wake-up call sounded by the Supreme Court in Harcus

The Supreme Court’s decision in Harcus Sinclair LLP and another v Your Lawyers Ltd [2021] UKSC 32, [2021] All ER (D) 87 (Jul) has caused something of a stir. Commentators have hurried into print to alert their readers to the risk that undertakings from incorporated law firms might not now be as gold-plated as they thought because the summary enforcement mechanism through the court which applies to individual solicitors as ‘officers of the court’ doesn’t extend to corporates.

The decision in Harcus highlights various issues, but is not, in fact, the earth-shattering event some have claimed.

The court’s lack of an inherent supervisory jurisdiction over corporate law firms has been pretty clear since the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Assaubayev v Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 1491, [2014] All ER (D) 239 (Nov). At the risk of a lack of humility,

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