One of the stories dominating the London newspapers is that of the former Washington ambassador's memoirs, Sir Christopher Meyer.
His memoirs are apparently sensational and have been serialised in the The Guardian and the Daily Mail.
Myer has been heavily criticised as he has supposedly breached confidences and has put himself in a potential conflict of interest situation as he is part time chairman for the Press Complaints Commission.
As Jack Straw said last week "What are people supposed to do? He in the newspapers saying controversial things. If people want to complain to the newspaper about what he has said, who do they complain to?"
An integral aspect of lawyers work is that they should not put themselves in a position where there could be an actual or potential conflict of interest.
This is enshrined within the professional conduct rules and in my experience, most solicitors that I know or have worked with, comply with these rules.
Of course, we do come across instances where the rules can be bent or broken.
I know of one occasion when a lawyer advised advised a client on a litigation matter.
A few weeks later he found out that his then boss was acting for the opponent on the same matter and it was clear that the boss was aware of the nature of the advice.
In light of the fact that it was going to be a huge case for the partner with the prospect of enhancing his fees by at least £30k, the lawyer was not entirely surprised that there was no consultation with him on whether the firm should be acting or not.
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