Solicitors are entitled to drop clients who insist they put forward untenable arguments in court, the Court of Appeal has ruled in a landmark case
In Buxton v Mills-Owen [2010] EWCA Civ 122, the court considered whether a solicitors’ firm in that position was entitled to cease to act for a client yet still be paid up to that point. The court ruled that the firm could lawfully terminate its retainer where it was being instructed to do something improper, and should be paid its profit costs and disbursements for completed work up to that point. The case, which originated from a planning appeal, involved Cambridge firm of solicitors, Richard Buxton. In his judgment, Lord Justice Dyson said: “The common law rule that a solicitor is entitled to be paid for all the work he has done prior to termination if he terminates for good reason has been part of our law for almost 200 years.”
Robert Heslett, president of the Law Society, which intervened in the case, says: “Like any business, solicitors should be paid for the services they provide and be confident in refusing to make arguments which they do not think they can professionally articulate or which would breach their professional duties.
“The Law Society felt it was essential for any uncertainty around this issue to be cleared up, to make it easier for solicitors to deal with situations where clients insist that unarguable points should be put, which is why it was so important for us to intervene in this case.”
