Appendix

• Author: Allan C. Hutchinson
• Pages: 219-301

219

APPENDIX

CANADIAN BAR

ASSOCIATION: CODE

OF PROFESSIONA L

CONDUCT

CHAPTERI:INTEGRITY

RULE

The lawyer must disch arge with integrity all duties owed to clients, t he

court or tribunal or other members of the profession and the public.1

Commentar y

Guiding Principles

1. Integrity is the fundamental quality of any person who seeks to

practise as a member of t he legal profession. If the client is in any

doubt about the lawyer’s trustworthiness, the essential element in

the lawyer-client relationship will be missing. If personal integrity

is lacking the lawyer’s usefulness to the cl ient and reputation with-

in the profession wil l be destroyed regardless of how competent the

lawyer may be.2

2. The principle of integrity i s a key element of each rule of the

Code.3

Disciplinary Action

3. Dishonourable or questionable conduct on the part of the lawyer

in either private li fe or professional practice will ref‌lect adversely

upon the lawyer, the integrity of t he legal profession and the ad-

ministr ation of justice as a whole. If the conduct, whether within or

LEGAL ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILIT Y220

outside the professional sphere, is such t hat knowledge of it would

be likely to impair the client’s trust in the lawyer as a profes sional

consultant, a governing b ody may be justif‌ied in taking disciplin-

ary action.4

Non-Professional Activit ies

4. Generally speaki ng, however, a govern ing body will not be con-

cerned with the purely private or extra-professional activities of

a lawyer that do not bring i nto question the integrity of the legal

profession or the lawyer’s professional integrity or competence.

5. Illustrations of conduct that may infringe the Rule (and often other

provisions of thi s Code) include:

(a) committing any persona lly disgraceful or morally reprehensible

offence that ref‌lects upon the law yer’s integrity (of which a con-

viction by a competent court would be prima facie evidence);

(b) committing, whether professional ly or in the lawyer’s per son-

al capacity, any act of fraud or dishonesty, e.g., by knowingly

making a false tax return or falsi fying a document, whether or

not prosecuted for so doing;

(c) making an untr ue representation or concealing a material fact

from a client, with a dishonest or improper motive;

(d) taking advantage of the youth, inexperience, lack of education

or sophistication, ill healt h, or unbusinesslike habits of a client;

(e) misappropriating or dealing dishonestly wit h a client’s money

or other property;

(f) receiving money or other propert y from or on behalf of a client

for a specif‌ic purpose and failing, without the client’s consent,

to pay or apply it for that purpose;

(g) knowi ngly assisting, enabling or permitting any person to act

fraudulently, dishonestly or illegally;

(h) failing to be absolutely frank and c andid in all dealings with

the Court or tribunal, fellow lawyers, and other partie s to pro-

ceedings, subject always to not betray ing the client’s cause,

abandoning the client’s legal rights or di sclosing the client’s

conf‌idences; and

(i) failing to honour the lawyer’s word when pledged even though,

under technical rule s, the absence of writing might afford a

legal defence.

1 ABA-MC Canon 1; B.C. 2; N.B. 1-R, 1-C.1; Ont. 6.01(1); N.S. 1-R; Que. 2.0 0.01,

3.02.01. Oxford English Dictionary (2d ed.) s.v. “ integrity”: “Soundness of mor al

principle; the ch aracter of uncorrupted v irtue, esp. in relation to tr uth and fair

dealing; upri ghtness, honesty, sincerity.”

Appendix: CB A Code of Professional Conduct 221

2 Ont. 6.01(1) Com mentary; N.S. 1.1.

3 N.B. 1-C.2.

4 ABA-MC DR 1-101; N.B. 1-C.3; N.S. 1.2.

CHAPTER II: COMPETENCE AND QUALITY OF

SERVICE

RULE

1. The lawyer owes the client a duty to be competent to perform any

legal services undertaken on the client’s behalf.1

2. The lawyer should serve the client in a conscientious, diligent and

eff‌icient manner so as to prov ide a quality of service at least equal

to that which lawyers genera lly would expect of a competent law-

yer in a like situation.2

Commentar y

Knowledge and Skill

1. Competence in the context of the f‌irst branch of thi s Rule goes

beyond formal qualif‌ication to practise law. It has to do with the

suff‌iciency of the lawyer’s qualif‌ications to deal with the matter in

question. It includes knowledge, skill, and the ability to use them

effectively in the interest s of the client.3

2. As members of the legal profession, law yers hold themselves out

as being knowledgeable, skilled and capable in the practice of law.

The client is entitled to assume th at the lawyer has the abilit y and

capacity to deal adequately with any legal matters undertaken on

the client’s behalf.4

3. The lawyer should not undertake a matter wit hout honestly feeling

either competent to handle it, or able to become competent without

undue delay, risk or expense to the client. The law yer who pro-

ceeds on any other basis is not being honest with the client. This is

an ethical considerat ion and is to be distingui shed from the stan-

dard of care that a court would apply for purposes of determining

negligence.5

4. Competence involves more than an understandi ng of legal prin-

ciples; it involves a n adequate knowledge of t he practice and pro-

cedures by wh ich those principles can be ef fectively applied. To

accomplish th is, the lawyer should ke ep abreast of developments in

all areas in which the lawyer practise s. The lawyer should also de-

velop and maintain a facility with advances in technology in areas