Duties of a lawyer to a court and to a client

Abstract

The article provides a comparison of legislation of the United States, Australia, the EU and Ukraine regulating the legal status of a lawyer in the administration of justice mechanism, as well as an analysis the correlation of his duties to the court and to the client. The author recommends that a lawyer not act in a manner that best serves the interests of the client since this will put the course of justice and public confidence in the profession in a vulnerable position; attorneys have to inform clients that their duty to the court is of paramount importance. In case of improper performance of their professional duties, lawyers should be brought not only to corporate liability (disciplinary liability, which is established by the legislation of Ukraine), but also to the civil law (property) liability that is proposed to be established. It is necessary for Ukraine to introduce insurance institution against a lawyer’s property liability as a means of minimizing the negative consequences for a lawyer, assuming such liability results from an error and such lawyer is obliged to compensate the harm caused to the client.