By Michael Dolan.
You are acting for an international company which is the applicant in a Federal Court commercial dispute regarding patent rights and you have filed in court and served an affidavit prepared by you sworn by your client’s Australian manager.  The respondent’s solicitors have contacted you to advise that certain parts of your client’s affidavit are untrue and they provide you with clear documentary evidence supporting their position. What do you do? 

By Michael Dolan.  
You are acting for two friends who purchased a beach house together with a third friend some years ago, but a serious dispute has since arisen between the third friend and your clients as to the beneficial ownership of the property.  Legal proceedings against your clients have been commenced.  You have just received a letter from solicitors acting for the plaintiff demanding that you cease acting for your clients immediately on the basis that you are conflicted.  Must you cease acting?  What should you do? 

By Donna Cooper.
Quite often there are very few black and white answers when it comes to ethics.  As the Honourable Justice Margaret McMurdo stated in an address given in Queensland in 2013 ‘potential ethical dilemmas are infinite. Their resolution can be difficult and finely balanced, even for experienced practitioners and judges.’   One such delicate situation arises when a practitioner strongly suspects that their client may be lying whilst under cross-examination.