19. Duty to the court
- A solicitor must not deceive or knowingly or recklessly mislead the court.
- A solicitor must take all necessary steps to correct any misleading statement made by the solicitor to a court as soon as possible after the solicitor becomes aware that the statement was misleading.
- A solicitor will not have made a misleading statement to a court simply by failing to correct an error in a statement made to the court by the opponent or any other person.
- A solicitor seeking any interlocutory relief in an ex parte application must disclose to the court all factual or legal matters which:
- are within the solicitor's knowledge;
- are not protected by legal professional privilege; and
- the solicitor has reasonable grounds to believe would support an argument against granting the relief or limiting its terms adversely to the client.
- A solicitor who has knowledge of matters which are within Rule 19.4 must:
- seek instructions for the waiver of legal professional privilege, if the matters are protected by that privilege, so as to permit the solicitor to disclose those matters under Rule 19.4; and
- if the client does not waive the privilege as sought by the solicitor:
- must inform the client of the client's responsibility to authorise such disclosure and the possible consequences of not doing so; and
- must inform the court that the solicitor cannot assure the court that all matters which should be disclosed have been disclosed to the court.
- A solicitor must, at the appropriate time in the hearing of the case if the court has not yet been informed of that matter, inform the court of:
- any binding authority;
- where there is no binding authority, any authority decided by an Australian appellate court; and
- any applicable legislation, known to the solicitor and which the solicitor has reasonable grounds to believe to be directly in point, against the client's case.
- A solicitor need not inform the court of matters within Rule 19.6 at a time when the opponent tells the court that the opponent's whole case will be withdrawn or the opponent will consent to final judgement in favour of the client, unless the appropriate time for the solicitor to have informed the court of such matters in the ordinary course has already arrived or passed.
- A solicitor who becomes aware of matters within Rule 19.6 after judgement or decision has been reserved and while it remains pending, whether the authority or legislation came into existence before or after argument, must inform the court of that matter by:
- a letter to the court, copied to the opponent, and limited to the relevant reference unless the opponent has consented beforehand to further material in the letter; or
- requesting the court to relist the case for further argument on a convenient date, after first notifying the opponent of the intended request and consulting the opponent as to the convenient date for further argument.
- A solicitor need not inform the court of any matter otherwise within Rule 19.8 which would have rendered admissible any evidence tendered by the prosecution which the court has ruled inadmissible without calling on the defence.
- A solicitor who knows or suspects that the prosecution is unaware of the client's previous conviction must not ask a prosecution witness whether there are previous convictions, in the hope of a negative answer.
- A solicitor must inform the court of any misapprehension by the court as to the effect of an order which the court is making, as soon as the solicitor becomes aware of the misapprehension.
- A solicitor must alert the opponent and if necessary inform the court if any express concession made in the course of a trial in civil proceedings by the opponent about evidence, case-law or legislation is to the knowledge of the solicitor contrary to the true position and is believed by the solicitor to have been made by mistake.