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When does failing to ask questions become dishonest? John Gould examines the risks for solicitors who would rather not know
- Blind-eye dishonesty requires a specific suspicion and a deliberate decision to avoid investigating it; careless client checks alone do not establish dishonesty.
- The Court of Appeal’s ruling in Grosvenor Property Developers Ltd v Portner Law Ltd highlights the need to examine a solicitor’s actual knowledge and beliefs before judging their conduct against ordinary standards of honesty.
Most lawyers are not tempted to embark on a course of dishonesty, although it is true that there are a few each year who turn out to be criminals who happen to be professionally qualified. Most lawyers adhere most of the time to the higher standard of rectitude which is described as integrity, although it is also true that some lawyers occasionally stray from that straight and narrow path.
But for those who are neither incipient criminals nor intrinsically dodgy, there is an area of risk which is particularly dangerous because it doesn’t
