Family Law and Ethics with Ian Kennedy and The Hon. Nahum Mushin – On-Demand Fireside Chat

This isn’t a webinar and it’s not chalk and talk. It’s a one hour conversation between one of the most respected experts in their chosen field and another expert in the same field. Each discussion is planned by the two experts and covers an agreed range of issues we’ll share with you.

Complying with the rules of professional responsibility is only part of every lawyer’s required conduct. The practice of law, as with all other areas of human endeavour, must be ethical. Ethics is conduct beyond the rules.

This session is intended as a wide-ranging discussion exploring and raising awareness of the nature and importance of good ethical practice in family law. Some of the issues to be discussed include –

• Duty to client (confidentiality; fidelity; conflicting interests)
• Conflicts between duty to the Court and duty to the client;
  • Proper basis
    • Flower Hart v White Industries (1999) 87 FCR 134
  • Correcting errors
• Conflicts in duties to a current client and a former client;
  • Thevanez (1986) FLC ¶91-748
  • Osferatu (2015) FLC ¶93-666
• Lawyer/judge relationships
  • Charisteas (2021) HCA 29
• Inadvertent disclosure
  • ASCR r31 – resultant conflict with own client?
• Delinquent clients